A CONVICTED drug dealer was spotted selling wraps of heroin or crack cocaine to known addicts in the street outside his Rugby home.
When the police then raided the address they discovered further deals of the two class A drugs and more than £6,000 in cash including counterfeit bank notes.
And at Warwick Crown Court, Abyomi Fatoki pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply them and having custody of £550 worth of counterfeit currency.
The 27-year-old, of Bridge Street, who also admitted possessing cannabis for his own use, was jailed for three years and nine months.
And Judge Andrew Lockhart QC ordered a further hearing to take place to decide whether the cash seized from Fatoki should be confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Prosecutor Sati Ruck said in June last year plain-clothed police officers were on duty in Bridge Street when they saw two known drug-users approach Fatoki in the street.
An exchange took place, and when the officer pulled up next to him, Fatoki realised who they were and made a run for it, dropping two phones as he fled.
He was caught and arrested, and the keys to his nearby home were seized from him, together with some money.
When the address was searched officers found two more phones and £5,740 in cash, including £550 in counterfeit notes, in his bedroom.
And hidden in a waste bin in the kitchen were 20 wraps of heroin, five wraps of crack cocaine and two bags of cannabis, while in his car was a further phone and another £240 in cash.
Altogether the police seized cash totalling £6,055 which Miss Ruck asked to be forfeited without a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing – but the judge refused and ordered an investigation into Fatoki’s finances prior to a further hearing.
When he was interviewed Fatoki denied being involved in drug dealing, and said the phones belonged to a friend and that the money was savings or money his brother had given him for a holiday, added Miss Ruck.
Judge Lockhart observed Fatoki had a previous conviction for supplying drugs, for which he had been jailed for four years in 2013.
And Christian Wasoona, defending, said: “He realises he has let a lot of people down, his parents, and his partner, and his daughter. He knows it will be a custodial sentence of a substantial period.”
Jailing Fatoki, Judge Lockhart told him: “You are still a young man, and you have a very significant previous conviction for exactly this offending.
“It is very sad for your family that you have again fallen into that type of behaviour.”
