A London drug dealer who bit a police officer as he was arrested by the Matthew Street tower blocks, a week after police launched their crackdown on organised crime from the same spot, has been jailed for 32 months.
Abdullah Saed, 25, from Penge in south-east London, was stopped by South Wales Police officers on 31 March. The force puts Matthew Street in Waun Wen. Its high-rise council flats stand at the heart of the Dyfatty operation, which had gone public on 24 March.
He was carrying a white carrier bag and trying to get into an address when officers stopped him, the force said.
The car key he tried to throw away on Matthew Street
Saed had a key to a vehicle and tried to throw it away as he was arrested, police said.
When officers searched the vehicle they found four bags of cocaine, several bags of cannabis weighing 236 grams in total, cash and a phone.
It was during the arrest that Saed bit an officer.
He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine and cannabis, being concerned in the supply of both drugs, and assaulting an emergency worker. He has been sentenced to 32 months in prison.
“Filling the streets”: Sergeant Amy Joseph on the Matthew Street arrest
Sergeant Amy Joseph said Saed “was clearly in Swansea for the sole purpose of filling the streets with his Class A and B drugs”.
She said: “When caught red-handed, Saed, who was known to have an infectious disease, bit an officer; a reprehensible act for which he showed no remorse at all during the investigation.”
“It is pleasing therefore that he has been put away,” she added.
Seven days after the launch, in the shadow of the same flats
On 24 March police, Swansea Council and their partners had gathered in front of the Matthew Street flats to launch Clear, Hold, Build, a year-long police-led drive against the gangs around High Street North and the tower blocks. Chief Superintendent Stephen Jones said at the launch that the work was “long overdue for the people who live in Dyfatty”.
Officers had been working in the area since mid-January. By mid-March they had made 28 arrests and executed five drugs warrants, and police said crime in Dyfatty was down 12% and anti-social behaviour down 69%.
Waun Wen sits alongside Dyfatty, Hafod, Brynmelyn, North Hill and High Street in the six neighbourhoods covered by the £20m, ten-year UK Government investment programme running alongside the police operation.
It is not the first time dealers from London have been jailed over this corner of the city. Last year two men from Barking and Southwark were among three jailed for forcing their way into a woman’s home in Waun Wen over a claimed drugs debt and stashing drugs inside. Police call the practice cuckooing.
Two men from Ammanford and Hafod have also been jailed, for more than 12 years between them, after officers caught a heroin and crack deal outside a home in Hafod.
And on Thursday Swansea Council’s cabinet was asked to let trained housing officers issue legal notices and go to court to shut homes taken over by dealers, a move the council says backs Clear, Hold, Build.
How to report drug dealing to South Wales Police
Anyone who suspects drug dealing, or is worried that a young or vulnerable person is being targeted by an organised crime group, can call 101. “You don’t have to be certain, just concerned,” the force said.
Reports can be made anonymously to Crimestoppers online or on 0800 555 111. In an emergency, or if a crime is happening, call 999.
Discover more from Swansea Bay News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
