A crack cocaine dealer caught selling drugs in the street by undercover police officers was found to be running a small production operation from his home.
Rekan Ali was spotted handing over the Class A drug to a customer in broad daylight near Middlesbrough town centre.
When the 24-year-old was arrested the officers recovered a black plastic bag containing 46 rocks of the drug stuffed down his underwear.
Teesside Crown Court heard how the officers also found a set of keys for a house on Byelands Street, where they discovered the crack cocaine factory and a further batch of 93 grip-seal bags containing the Class A drug.
Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said both batches of the drug were worth up to £3,000 in total and officers recovered weighing scales and chemicals used in the production of crack cocaine.
He added: “In the kitchen the stove had been wrapped in foil and there were traces of white residue.
“There were also bottles of ammonia recovered and a pot in the kitchen sink with traces of white powder around the rim.
“The bottom of that particular item had scorch marks on it.”
The court heard that Ali had arrived in the UK from his Kurdish homeland and had been granted asylum.
Ali, now of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine following his arrest on October 6 this year on Lonsdale Street.
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Michele Turner, mitigating, said her client had fled his homeland because he was being threatened, abused, and beaten but refused to name those responsible after he was trafficked into the country.
“He was forced to sell the drugs found by the police in order to pay for his transport into the country,” she said.
“He wasn’t living a lavish lifestyle while he was selling the drugs.”
Recorder Anthony Kelbrick sentenced the Ali to a total of three years and four months for both offences.
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