A COCAINE dealer who kept nearly £12,000 worth of drugs in his house and was owed £25,000 by customers has been jailed.

Luke Edwards, 29, from Cwmbran, was caught because of his links to another drug trafficker from the town called Raymond Mcinnes who was jailed last month.

Nuhu Gobir, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court that Edwards’ address in Pontnewydd Walk was raided by police in September.

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The defendant threw a package of cocaine out of a bedroom window as the officers were forcing entry.

As well as seizing a large amount of drugs police also found a mobile phone implicating Edwards even further.

“There were numerous messages indictive of the supply of cocaine,” Mr Gobir said.

“There were requests for T-shirts, the slang for 1.7g of cocaine.

"Also on the phone was a tick list for £25,415.

“When he was interviewed by the police he told them he had a bad addiction to cocaine from 2018 which got worse through Covid and when he lost his job.”

Edwards pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

The offences were committed between September 9, 2016 and September 14, 2022.

He had no previous convictions.

Christopher Rees, representing the defendant, said: “The defendant was a drug user who got into debt and could not get out of his involvement.

“He was made the subject of threats.

“It was something of a relief when he was recently caught.”

The judge, Recorder IWL Jones, told Edwards the scale of the operation he became involved in was “substantial”.

He added that entanglement in the drugs trade meant entering a “vicious circle”.

Recorder Jones said: “It is a dangerous world as well you know.”

The defendant was jailed for three years and is set to face a proceeds of crime hearing at a date to be fixed.