A budding music producer who moved to Wales looking for love turned to making and selling crack cocaine to fund his musical ambitions.
Ian Njugu travelled to Swansea to “pursue a romantic liaison” but was soon dealing Class A drugs to pay the bills.
Swansea Crown Court heard the 27-year-old had been offered work as a music producer in Los Angeles, and was manufacturing crack, in part, to raise cash to make the trans-Atlantic trip.
Sian Cutter, prosecuting, said Njugu was arrested on September 30 this year after police officers on patrol in the city centre became suspicious of a car on Brunswick Street.
The court heard officers watched activity around the car, and witnessed what they thought was a drug deal taking place.
The officers moved in, and Njugu made-off on foot – but was quickly caught.
The defendant was searched, and he was found to be in possession of 26 wraps of crack and heroin, £375 in cash, and two mobile phones.
A message on one of the phones led officers to his home address in the Landore area.
The court heard that when police executed a search warrant at the address they recovered £6,000-worth of crack and heroin, “numerous” phones, scales, face masks and gloves, and a quantity of the chemical ammonia.
The prosecutor said police believed Njugu had been using the ammonia to convert cocaine to the crack form of the drug.
Njugu, of Byng Street, Landore, Swansea , had previously pleaded guilty to possession of crack with intent to supply, and possession of heroin with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
The court heard he has no previous convictions.
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Lucas Edwards, for Njugu, said the defendant was from London and had come to Swansea for a relationship.
He said his client was a qualified sound engineer and a budding music producer who had run out of money while in the city, and had turned to dealing to pay his rent, fund his application to re-new his UK citizenship, and travel to America for work.
He said: “He was hoping to travel to Los Angeles where he was offered the opportunity to do music producing – but he did not have the funds to travel.”
The advocate added that Njugu had expressed genuine remorse for his actions.
Judge Geraint Walters told the defendant that Class A drugs wreck the lives of users “as they go from fix to fix”, and blight the communities in which addicts live.
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He said: “You were caught plying your trade on the streets of Swansea by police officers. You were a significant supplier of drugs in and around the city.
“You claim to have come to Swansea pursuing some romantic liaison. That may or may not be the truth, but there were other motives. You were plainly working for a criminal gang from one of our major cities.”
He added: “You had the skill and ability to convert cocaine into crack cocaine.”
Giving the defendant a 25 per cent discount for his guilty pleas the judge sentenced him to 40 months for each of the two offences – the sentences will run concurrently making an overall sentence of 40 months. Njugu will serve half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
