Dealers who stashed £30k drugs in Kinder eggs locked up by judge

Police seized £30,000 worth of heroin and cocaine when they swooped to smash the operation that involved two men from Wolverhampton as well as another man and woman.

Undercover officers spotted 18-year-old Agandy Anderson, from Heath Town, regularly leaving a flat in Leamington Spa that was at the centre of the racket, Warwick Crown Court was told.

When he was arrested as he turned up to complete another drug deal on a canal towpath he had a wrap of heroin on him, £50 in cash and a key that police then used to raid the flat, Mr Philip Gibbs, prosecuting, told the court.

They discovered dozens of wraps of drugs worth almost £700 in plastic Kinder eggs in the lounge and heroin valued at £820 hidden in soil in a flower pot in the kitchen. Scientific analysis showed the drugs Anderson had supplied on the street were from the same batch as those in the flat, Mr Gibbs added.

Curtis 'Spider' Sutherland, 22, was linked to a second address in Leamington where a stash of cash and drugs was uncovered during the inquiry.

Officers found almost £3,000 cash and crack valued at £3,340 in two cardboard boxes on a shelf at this flat, while more crack and £15,000 worth of heroin were hidden in another box and under a cushion, the court was told.

The total value of drugs seized from the two addresses and those involved on April 17 last year was £29,950.

Sutherland was carrying wraps of heroin and crack that tests showed came from the same batch when he was arrested as he arrived at the flat, Mr Gibbs said.

He added: "Anderson and Sutherland had come from Wolverhampton to act as street dealers. One of the Leamington flats was being used as the base while the other was employed as a safe house for the dealers."

Sutherland, of Green Park Avenue, Stowheath, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after admitting conspiracy to supply drugs while Anderson of Chervil Rise, Heath Town, got three years and four months in a young offenders institution after being convicted of a similar offence.

Two people from Leamington were each locked up for three years after admitting their part in the plot while a woman who also confessed to the conspiracy had her case adjourned because the basis of her plea was not accepted by the court.

Judge Robert Orme said: "This was a significant conspiracy but you are all young and were effectively being employed by someone higher up the chain of command who one can infer was making a substantial profit."