A teenage drug pusher asked for extra people to make deliveries of crack and heroin around a Welsh city due to the success of the operation, a court has heard.
Jayden Barnes sent texts to contacts appealing for "another person on drops" because business was "popping" and he needed help.
Londoner Barnes would later say he had been transported to Swansea with drugs hidden up his bum after running up a debt to a gang.
Swansea Crown Court heard Barnes was arrested on April 11 this year in the Mount Pleasant area of the city after police became suspicious of activity around a Volvo car.
Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said as officers approached the vehicle in Rosehill Terrace the occupants – three women and the 18-year-old defendant – tried to flee but were detained.
The court heard that on the ground next to the door from which Barnes had exited the car were two wraps of heroin and two of cocaine and when the defendant was searched he was found to have £265 in cash.
A resident of the area then approached police and pointed out the flat in nearby Penmaen Terrace where Barnes had been staying in recent weeks. A subsequent search of the property uncovered another 31 wraps of Class A drugs worth in total more than £1,500.
The prosecutor said police spoke to the tenant of the flat, Kieran Davies, who initially said he knew nothing about the Londoner being in the property but later said the visitor had paid him to move out and stay elsewhere while he was in town.
The court heard Mr Davies is currently being investigated by the police with a view to establishing whether he was involved in the operation or whether the London gang had taken over his flat to use as a base – a common technique used by so-called county lines drug gangs known as "cuckooing".
In his interview Barnes at first claimed to just be visiting Swansea with a friend but later told officers he had run up debts to a gang in London and had been transported to Wales with drugs hidden up his backside – a method known as "plugging" – to work off what he owed.
Mr Scapens said when police examined the defendant's phone they found texts both sent from and received by the device relating to drug dealing.
In one outgoing text Barnes said business was "popping" and added "still need a hand up here" while in another he wrote: "I just need another person on deals. We have got 2 vehicles up here".
The court heard there were also messages about the quantity and quality of drugs on offer as well as one incoming text from somebody telling him he had his £5,000 and asking where he wanted it delivered.
Barnes, of Wilson Road, Southwark, London, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine. He has one previous conviction which was for possession of a bladed article in 2017.
Lee Davies, for Barnes, said the defendant had been working at the level of a street dealer and that he owed money "to those above him in the operation".
Barnes was ordered to spend 32 months in a young offender institution of which he'll serve up to half before being released on licence.