A pair of drug dealers were caught after one of them inadvertently sent text messages to his social worker advertising cocaine for sale. The council employee reported the unusual messages to police who arrested the teenage sender and his accomplice – a man twice his age who was working in a Home Bargains shop.
Regan Walters, prosecuting at Swansea Crown Court, said that in late March this year a Swansea Council employee began receiving bulk text messages from Thomas Martin's phone advertising cocaine for sale. The social worker alerted the police and officers went to a hostel in Mansel Street in Swansea city centre where they found the teenager in bed . His room was searched and officers found 8g of cannabis, a phone and sim card, and stash of cocaine and a quantity of empty snap-seal bags hidden under a kitchen unit.
The prosecutor said officers then went to an address in Loughor which was linked to Martin and when the door was opened by Andrew Elliot the police immediately detected a strong smell of cannabis coming from within. When this second property was searched officers found a safe in a cupboard containing wraps of cannabis and cocaine, cannabis vapes, £390 in cash, and five mobile phones. Two of the phones contained messages relating to drug-dealing. Both defendants were arrested and taken to Swansea Central police station where they gave officers prepared statements in which they denied involvement in the supply of drugs.
