A HEROIN trafficker was jailed after he was caught by undercover cops in a sting targeting drug dealers in Newport.

Taylor Blackley, 21, was brought to justice following Gwent Police’s Operation Solar which has seen around a dozen criminals locked up.

The defendant was arrested with scores of other drug dealing suspects after officers carried out a series of dawn raids in Newport last summer.

Around 70 Gwent Police officers, including specialist teams, swooped on them during an operation which lasted two days in early June 2020.

South Wales Argus:

Taylor Blackley

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Undercover detectives posing as addicts had earlier duped dealers into selling class A drugs to them during a crackdown on organised crime in the city.

These sales were secretly filmed by police and used as evidence against a number of drug traffickers.

Blackley, formerly of Broadmead Park, Newport, pleaded guilty to supplying heroin on December 5, 2019.

At Cardiff Crown Court, he was jailed for 27 months by Judge Richard Williams.