A TEENAGE drug dealer who hid crack cocaine up his bottom was caught after plainclothes police spotted him trafficking on the streets of Newport.

Sahil Abbas, 18, was locked up for nearly three years by a judge who told him he had been making “considerable sums of money”.

Prosecutor Emma Harris said the defendant was arrested by officers in Francis Drive in the Pill area of Newport last month with other drug dealers.

When Abbas was strip searched at the police station, he was found with 3.6g of crack cocaine which had a potential street value of £360.

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The defendant, of Coulson Close, Newport, pleaded guilty to possession of a class A drug with intent to supply.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how the offence was committed on March 12.

Miss Harris said Abbas was a man of previous good character with no convictions recorded against him.

Stuart John, representing the defendant, said: “He is ready for custody and his bags are packed so to speak.

“He’s had no previous involvement in the criminal justice system and didn’t quite appreciate how seriously the courts consider offences like these.

“The defendant is a young man who has made a serious mistake.”

Mr John added how his client had turned to dealing after building up a drug debt.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins told Abbas: “Anyone who deals in class A drugs on the streets commits an offence too serious to be dealt with by anything short of a custodial sentence.

“Drugs are a scourge of modern-day society.

“You may have been naïve but you have to be streetwise in order to sell class A drugs to others.

“You were making considerable sums from it I have no doubt.”

Abbas was sent to a young offender institution for 32 months and ordered to pay a £190 victim surcharge after his release from custody.

The judge ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the crack cocaine.