Dealer who bought 100,000 paracetamol he thought were diazepam given away by blue lips

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A drug dealer who bought more than 100,000 diazepam tablets which turned out to be paracetamol dyed blue has been jailed.

Robert Thomas, 41, was reported to police after being spotted taking drugs in the street in Aberystwyth.

A member of the public phoned Dyfed-Powys Police to say they had seen two people taking blue pills on Corporation Street on the evening of 15 July 2020. Both were discovered with a blue substance around their mouths.

Officers attended and saw Thomas, an active drug dealer, coming out of his address on the street, with blue powder around his lips.

He was stopped and searched, with several white and blue tablets found in his possession, leading to his arrest.

The force then searched Thomas’ home where they found a bag containing 3g of herbal cannabis, as well as a small set of weighing scales and 0.77g of cannabis under his bed.

Officers then found 101,000 blue and white tablets in various containers, including two large buckets, each containing thousands of the pills.

While being checked into custody, a further search of Thomas resulted in more blue tablets in a snap bag between his buttocks, £480 in cash and a Motorola mobile phone.

The force believe Thomas had bulk-bought what he thought was diazepam tablets online to sell on.

However, forensic testing of the tablets revealed that 3,211 of them were Flualprazolam which fall within the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, while the other 97,814 were paracetamol that had been dyed blue.

The street value of the tablets seized, if sold as Diazepam, would be between £101,000 and £202,000 if sold singularly or £40,000 if sold wholesale. On the scales, officers also found traces of cocaine.

During an interview, Thomas confirmed he had paid £12,000 for each of the large tubs, but claimed he had received more than he had ordered and that he wasn’t selling them on.

However, when officers looked into Thomas’ phone they found significant evidence of drug dealing, offering to sell cocaine, MDMA, amphetamines, cannabis and Diazepam.

DS Steven Jones said: “Following the good work from our officers who attended the initial call through to the thorough investigation that followed, we were able to show Thomas was an active dealer who was selling drugs on a large scale in Ceredigion.

“This case shows that we can prosecute those involved in drug supply even without them being caught in possession of the drugs.

“We would like to thank the person who reported Thomas taking drugs in the street, and we hope this convection helps to reassure the public that we will act on their concerns to secure convictions.”

Thomas was convicted following trial at Swansea Crown Court where he returned to be sentenced on Friday 20 January.

For offering to supply cocaine and MDMA he was sentenced to five-and-a-half years for each, amphetamine and cannabis he was sentenced to 12 months each and diazepam six months.

All sentences will run concurrently, meaning his total sentence is five-and-a-half years.