A cocaine dealer who rammed unmarked police cars told officers it was lucky he had not been driving something big like a Range Rover or he would have killed them all.
The undercover cops had to draw Tasers and use batons to smash car windows in order to arrest Zac Thomas and Ryan Abraham after they had tried to flee. Officers had been looking for Thomas after he had been seen carrying out a suspected drug deal in a car park behind a row of shops on a Swansea housing estate, an area know for drug activity.
Swansea Crown Court heard the ramming was the culmination of a sequence of events which began on the morning of September 28 this year in the Sketty Park area of Swansea. Sian Cutter, prosecuting, said plain clothes police officers patrolling on the estate in an unmarked car saw a woman with cash-in-hand making a call on her mobile before heading to the car park behind a parade of shops - "an area known for drug dealing".
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The court heard the officers believed the woman had just arranged to met her dealer at the location, and as they kept watch on the shops a BMW arrived and stopped near the woman. The officers got out of their car and approached the car park on foot, and the woman was seen to be handing money to the driver of the Beamer through an open window. The officers moved in and tried to grab the ignition keys of the car but the drive sped off, narrowly missing a pedestrian and a van as he pulled onto Sketty Park Drive and raced away on the wrong side of the road. The court heard the BMW was soon out of sight but officer had noted a distinctive tattoo on the driver's neck. The officers spoke to the woman in the car park and she admitted she had gone there to buy drugs, and when she showed them her phone they saw she had been in contact with someone listed as "Ryan Townhill".
An area search was carried out for the BMW, and at lunchtime that say it was spotted parked on Gwynedd Avenue in Townhill. The vehicle was kept under observation and two men - now identified as Thomas and Abraham - were seen to approach it. One lent inside through the an open window the both men went into a nearby house. Shortly afterwards the pair emerged from the property and got into a second parked car, a Ford Focus. As the Ford pulled off an unmarked police car drove towards it and, because of parked cars lining both sides of the street, there was no room for the cars to pass each other.
The prosecutor said the driver of the Focus - Thomas - seemed unaware the car facing him contained plain clothes police officers as he "raised his hands as if in frustration that the car was in his way". Two officers got out of the cop car and identified themselves as police and they ordered the defendants to get out of the Ford, which the pair refused to do. At that point a second unmarked police car arrived and drove up behind the Ford to effectively box it in. Miss Cutter said while police officers were trying to get the defendants out of the car Thomas reversed at speed into the police car behind before pulling forward and hitting the first police car and then reversing back again. Eventually the window of the Focus was smashed with batons and Tasers were drawn, and Thomas was pulled from the vehicle and taken to the ground. The passenger of the Focus, Abraham, was also pulled from the car and arrested.
When 26-year-old Thomas was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs and replied "no problem". When he was searched officers found eight wraps of cocaine worth around £210, and some £280 in cash. He tested positive for cannabis, and told officers: "You are lucky I wasn't in a Range Rover of something like that, I would have killed the lot of you." When 20-year-old Abraham was searched and found in possession of two phones, a quantity of cannabis, and prescription diazepam.
The prosecutor said Thomas was taken to Swansea Central police station but refused to provide a sample for analysis, telling the officer who came to ask for one "Get the **** out of my cell, I'm sleeping". In his subsequent interview he said he didn't realise the people in the cars on Gwynedd Avenue were officers, and thought he thought he was being robbed.
When the Ford Focus was searched nine wraps of cocaine were found on the centre console. The house on Gwynedd Avenue was searched but nothing was found. The court heard that when Abraham's phone was switched on the greeting message on the home screen said "Graft mode W and B", with W and B being common terms for "white" or cocaine and "brown" or heroin. The court heard only a partial examination of the phone was possible but officers found a number of incoming and outgoing messages relating to drug dealing, including one bulk text sent to 96 contacts, and exchange with a contact where Abraham asked for a post code before replying that he was on his way.
Zac Thomas, of Penplas Road, Blaenymaes, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, failing to provide a specimen, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, and being concerned in the supply of cocaine when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. Ryan Abraham, of Teilo Crescent, Mayhill, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and to possession of cannabis when he appeared in the dock alongside his co-accused.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told the defendants they had been involved in selling drugs on the street of Swansea and said Thomas had driven dangerously twice on the same day, on the second occasion on a residential street near a school.
With one-quarter discount for their guilty pleas Thomas was sentenced to a total of four years in prison comprising three years and four months for the drugs matters and eight months for the driving matters to run consecutively, while Abraham was sentenced to three years and four months for the cocaine matter. Thomas was also banned from driving for five years and must pass an extended test before he can get a licence.
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