Midlands man found with £700 worth of drugs jailed
A man who was caught with more than £700 worth of class A drugs has been jailed for 32 months.
Wolverhampton Crown Court was told Jamal Din turned to drugs to alleviate pain from injuries he suffered when he was attacked with a machete in 2006.
He was today behind bars following his latest conviction for drugs offences. The court heard Din struggled with police and tried to throw away a bag of drugs when he was confronted by officers in Smethwick. Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting, told the court Din had pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine in its base form and heroin with intent to supply.
He had admitted the charges on the basis that at least 50 per cent of the drugs were for his own use, and that he intended to sell the rest on to two or three other people.
Mr Soulsby said on May 4 last year police had come across a Skoda car which they had wanted to trace parked in Waterloo Road at around 1.30pm.
Mr Soulsby said: "In the front seat there were two females, and in the rear sat Mr Din. As they were talking to the women they noticed Mr Din fiddling with something.
"He was trying to hide a small white bag and was covering it with his hand.
"The police told him to hand it over. Mr Din threw the white bag out of the window onto the street.
"The police grabbed Mr Din by the shoulders as he tried to get out of the car and he was restrained."
The court heard that 26-year-old Din struggled with police officers and in the end they had to use spray to detain him.
Police later found the bag contained 26 wraps of cocaine in its base form worth around £520, and 23 wraps of heroin worth £230. He also had £260 cash on him.
Mr Soulsby added: "He said in police interview he had just bought the drugs for £250 off a dealer called Shabba.
"He said that the drugs were for his own personal use."
The court heard Din had previous convictions, which included possession of heroin and cocaine in 2009 and in 2011.
Mr Ekwall Tiwana, defending, told the court that Din had been a drug addict for six years, and he was a man who would sell drugs to support his own habit.
He told the court that in 2006 Din, of Bordesley Green East, Bordesley Green, was attacked with a machete and had to spend a long time in hospital.
He said: "He started to self-medicate, initially with cannabis but then he moved on to harder drugs.
"He quickly became addicted to the drugs because of the pain he was suffering."
Judge Martin Walsh sentenced Din to 32 months in prison.
