A HEROIN dealer who sold drugs to undercover officers has been jailed after a Gwent Police crackdown on class A trafficking in Newport.

Delroy Lewis, 50, was caught as part of Operation Solar which led to a number of arrests in June following a series of early morning raids.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how the defendant, of Clarence Place, Newport, first started taking heroin at the age of nine.

Gareth James, prosecuting, said Lewis sold drugs after undercover officers codenamed ‘Jack’ and ‘Nat’ were deployed to work covertly in Newport.

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He told how Operation Solar was set up to tackle class A trafficking and how the city accounted for 44% of the Gwent force’s drugs offences.

Mr James said: “The undercover officers were tasked with identifying suppliers, build a relationship with them and record their transactions.”

Lewis admitted four counts of supplying heroin between December 9, 2019 and January 8, 2020.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how two of the £10 drug deals happened at the Tesco store on Caerleon Road.

The purity of the heroin varied between 11% and 38% and Lewis was identified by three local police officers and a police community support officer.

Photographs of him supplying the drugs were taken as part of the operation.

Mr James said the defendant had 41 previous convictions which included 12 that were drug-related and one firearms matter.

There were no convictions for drug trafficking.

Suzanne Payne, mitigating, said her client first took heroin when he was a young boy.

She told the court: “He has been addicted to heroin for quite a large proportion of his life.

“The defendant was born in Huddersfield and moved to Abergavenny at the age of two.

“The defendant doesn’t know his parents and spent his childhood in and out of care homes.

“He was introduced to heroin at the age of nine.”

Judge Richard Williams told Lewis: “You were ready, willing and able to supply a single wrap of heroin to undercover police officers on four separate occasions.

“You did so from your own stock, so you were not merely a runner.

“I accept you did so to fund your own addiction and that you were not dealing significant amounts.”

The defendant was jailed for two years and nine months.