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Wales Online
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Jason Evans

Teenage drug dealer with £50-a-day habit started smoking cannabis at 12

An 18-year-old cannabis dealer starting using the drug aged just 12 and now has a £50-a-day addiction.

Ryan Abraham came to the attention of police after officers spotted a van which they believed had false number plates.

The teenager dealer was subsequently found to have pictures and videos on his phone promoting the various strains of weed he was selling including dumdumz and strawberry mochi.

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Swansea Crown Court heard that at lunchtime on September 29 last year police on patrol in the Hafod area of the city saw a Renault van which they believed was showing false plates.

David Singh, prosecuting, said the officers lost sight of the vehicle in the traffic but located it again a short time later - as they approached the parked van the two males who had been standing nearby ran away, discarding a bag as they did so. Enquiries led officers to Abrahm's house in Townhill, and a search of the property uncovered cannabis, scales and a number of mobile phones.

The court heard an examination of the phones found drug-related texts sent and received over the previous month, so-called "tick lists" with names and figures, and photographs and videos apparently showing the prices of various kinds of cannabis for sale including strawberry mochi, dumdumz and cereal cream.

The 18-year-old subsequently gave a "no comment" interview.

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Ryan Abraham, of Teilo Crescent, Townhill, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis and to the simple possession of cannabis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.

Dan Griffiths, for Abraham, said cannabis had been a part of the defendant's life for a number of years, and his use "is approaching addiction if not already there". He said the teenager had turned to supplying the drug to fund his own habit and to discharge a debt he had incurred to those who supplied him but that his involvement had been over a relatively short period.

The advocate said Abraham's age and "obviously immaturity" were factors in him becoming involved in the supply of the drug, and he invited the court to find there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in the case and not to impose a term of immediate custody.

Judge Huw Rees said there had been nothing immature about the defendant's activities which were "purposeful and deliberate". He said it was clear from a probation report that the defendant has been using cannabis since the age of 12 or 13 and now, at the age of 18, had found himself addicted to the drug and with a £50-a-day habit.

Giving Abraham a 25 per cent discount for his guilty pleas the judge sentenced him to a total of six months detention in a young offenders institution - comprising six months for the supply charge and one month concurrent for possession - and suspended the term for 12 months. He also ordered the defendant to complete 150 hours of unpaid work, and do a rehabilitation course which will include a referral to a drugs agency.

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