A teenage cocaine and heroin dealer was caught after residents reported seeing a car regularly coming and going from their streets and called police. Undercover officers were sent to the area and saw Jonas Ngounou in his vehicle.
Swansea Crown Court heard that on the morning of May 9 this year police received reports from members of the public about a Vauxhall Astra car that had been seen repeatedly coming and going to the streets around the city's old Mount Pleasant hospital site. Megan Jones, prosecuting, said an unmarked police car was dispatched to the area and at lunchtime the officers onboard saw the Astra in Brynsyfi Way. As they monitored the vehicle they saw a man approach the parked vehicle and get in, and they quickly used their car to block the Astra's exit. The driver, 18-year-old Ngounou, leapt from the car and after a brief struggle he made off.
The court a foot chase ensued with teenager running past the University of Wales Trinity St David's Mount Pleasant campus and along Picton Terrace. As he ran he was seen to throw a small package but the officer decided to continue to chase the fleeing suspect and he was eventually caught and detained. The discarded package was later retrieved and found to contained wraps of cocaine and heroin. Ngounou's iPhone was seized but he refused to reveal its pin and officers have so far been unable to access it. However in the driver's door pocket of the car – a vehicle the defendant said belonged to his father – police found a Nokia phone which contained messages relating to drug dealing.
Read more: Cocaine gang had missing woman under bed and bank card reader for customers
Ngounou was taken to Swansea Central police station where he gave a no comment interview. Jonas Dave Ashu Ngounou, of New Heart Road, West Bromwich, West Midlands, admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply, possession of heroin with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of cannabis, and assaulting a police officer.
Jon Tarrant, mitigating, said his client had worked since leaving school but after issues with his family had left home and had run up debts, and then it was the "all-too-familiar story" of a young man being sent to another city to pay them off. He said the defendant wished to offer his apologies to the court.
Judge Jeremy Jenkins said it was very sad to see a man of Ngounou's age and with no previous qualifications before the courts. With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Ngounou was sentenced to a total of three and a half years in a young offenders' institution. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The court heard a youngster arrested in the defendant's car was dealt with at a youth court in Birmingham.
You can sign up for our regular Crime &Punishment newsletter here while this interactive tool allows you to check the latest crime statistics for your area:
