JAILED: Dealer 'imported' drugs from Bilston to Bridgnorth
A dealer has been jailed for ferrying drugs into a Shropshire market town from outside the county.
Tatenda Masawi stocked up in Wolverhampton, drove to Bridgnorth and then distributed his wares.
He was caught driving around the town in a hire car with packets of heroin and crack cocaine as well as a container of CS gas.
Masawi, 25, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after admitting possessing class A drugs with intent to supply, possessing a prohibited weapon, driving while disqualified and obstructing police after giving a false name.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard how Masawi was given the drugs by associates in the West Midlands region and drove to Shropshire with the intention of selling to users throughout Bridgnorth.
Prosecuting, Robert Edwards told the court that on June 23 of 2017, plain clothes police officers were in the Innage Lane car park in Bridgnorth in an unmarked car.
The officers were following up on intelligence which suggested organised dealers were collecting drugs in the West Midlands to sell in Shropshire.
They saw Masawi get into a Peugeot car.
Mr Edwards said the officers learned the car was hired and became suspicious, following Masawi to the car park at the town’s library.
He said: “They asked him for some identification. Their suspicions were aroused further when the defendant became agitated and began shaking.”
Masawi, of Bilboe Road, Bilston, Wolverhampton, then gave the officers two names, neither of which were his.
He offered the second name after being told of the extensive criminal record associated with the first.
Police searched the car, finding a baseball bat in the boot and a spray container of CS gas in the front of the car. At this point they arrested him.
During a later search at the police station, officers found two plastic wraps in Masawi’s clothes. One contained 566mg of heroin and 140mg of crack, and the other held 917mg of crack.
Mr Edwards said: “The drugs were clearly intended to be sold on the street.”
Judge Peter Barrie sentenced Masawi to three years and two months for two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent, to run concurrently.
For giving police fake names he got 14 days, and for possessing gas another four months, to run concurrently.
For driving while disqualified, Masawi got a consecutive two-month sentence.
The judge told him: “I accept you were part of a chain of offending, but you played a significant role in street dealing in Bridgnorth.”
