A teenage drug dealer found with wraps of MDMA tablets appeared "nervous" after being pulled over by police.
Jordan Barron, 19, was stopped by police near Tredegar and searched after raising suspicion. He was found with a total of 11 ecstasy tablets and he was also discovered to be disqualified from driving.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday heard Barron, from Ebbw Vale, was pulled over in Darby Crescent on May 26 last year after police ran checks on the blue Renault Clio he was driving.
Prosecutor Paul Hewitt said the defendant appeared "nervous" upon being approached by the officers which gave cause for a search to be carried out.
After the drugs were discovered he was arrested and interviewed. He made full admissions to police, saying he was not a user but a "buyer and seller" of the Class A drugs.
Barron, of Tredegar Road, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply MDMA and driving while disqualified. The court heard he had previous convictions for criminal damage, resisting arrest, battery, aggravated vehicle-taking, and driving while disqualified.
In March last year he was convicted of failing to comply with a community order and sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months – a sentence he is now in breach of.
Defence barrister Jeffrey Jones said his client was of a low IQ level and had a "chaotic childhood". He added: "He's easily influenced and is exploitable. There have been suggestions he's being asked to do things for others."
Sentencing, Recorder IWL Jones said the defendant had been given chances to avoid immediate custody for previous offences but had failed to take them.
He added: "You know controlled drugs are a serious problem in our society. They destroy lives, they destroy families, and they have ended up destroying your life as well by putting you in the dock."
Barron was sentenced to a total of 30 months detention in a young offenders' institute.
