Dealer had £20,000 worth of drugs when stopped for seat belt warning, court is told

Joseph Andrew Plumb was found to have more than 1kg of ketamine on him when an unmarked police car pulled him over on Batley Road in Wakefield on July 15 last year.

The 25-year-old admitted possession with an intent to supply a Class B drug at Leeds Crown Court.

Prosecutor Joseph Hudson said that the officers were only planning to pull him over to offer him advice on wearing a seat belt when he drove past them.

However, they noticed he began behaving "shifty" and pulled him over after activating their blue lights.

They said he was nervous and began distancing himself from the car.

He gave them a false name and refused to produce ID until they pulled out a fingerprint machine and he confessed his real name.

They searched the car and found a large bag of white powder, but refused to tell them what it was.

When they radioed to control to say they they had found suspected Class A drugs, he corrected them and told them it was a Class B drug.

When he got to the police station and was told he would be strip searched he pulled out another bag from his pocket containing smaller snap bags of white powder, which were also filled with ketamine.

He had 23 grammes on him, while the bag in the car contained 996 grammes.

The total street value was £20,420.

Plumb, of Virginia Close, Lofthouse, gave a no-comment interview but gave them passcodes for his phone, which was found to contain further evidence of drug dealing.

Mr Hudson said there were messages from Plumb asking a recipient how much of the drug they wanted.

Another exchange showed him discussing with a 'business partner' how much money they would make from selling drugs.

In addition, there was mention of a third person who would be doing 'drop offs'.

The court was told that Plumb, who works for a flooring company, had one previous conviction dating back to 2019 for drug driving.

Mitigating, Michael Morley, said that the evidence suggests Plumb was essentially involved in street dealing and said: "These are not the actions of somebody sophisticated or in a leading role role in a drugs enterprise.

"He is still young. There is another side to this young man, he has been employed for a number of years."

Recorder Ashley Serr jailed him for two years and eight months, saying Plumb played a "significant but not a leading role", adding: "It's not the hallmarks of someone higher up."