Carmarthenshire man jailed after police find secret drugs stash in Llanelli lockup.
Matthew Davies nicknamed ‘Hillbilly’, of Dwyfor, Llanelli has been jailed for three years and ordered to hand over £46,000 worth of drug money after he was caught hiding cocaine and cannabis in a storage locker last month.
While carrying out routine patrols on Saturday 13 September, PCSOs in Llanelli noticed a grey ford transit van being driven by a suspected disqualified driver.
The van disappeared and the two PCSOs – who were in an unmarked police car – began searching the area and until they found the van parked up outside a storage container in the Dafen area of Llanelli.
Suspecting that the lockup visit may not have been as innocent as it seemed, the PCSOs called on their response colleagues for support.
On arrival, the officers approached the man – now known to be Matthew ‘hillbilly’ Davies – as he frantically tried to lock the container before giving up in a fluster and running away from the police.
Officers chased after him, but Davies escaped and jumped over a fence, disappearing out of sight.
With the container left open after the botched attempt to lock it, officers entered and searched the unit under section 17 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
The unit was full of street-ready snap bags of drugs; officers seized 17 packets of cocaine and around £7000 worth of cannabis. It was also kitted out with typical drug dealing tools including three weighing scales, three mobile phones, two wallets, and a spoon.
Nestled in the bottom drawer of a cabinet, officers found over £46,000 worth of cash which was bundled up in wads of 10- and 20-pound notes.
Enquiries continued over the weekend which led to Davies eventually giving himself up to police on Monday 15 September. He was arrested at Llanelli Police on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A and class B drugs. The 37-year-old was charged and remanded into custody while officers continued to examine the evidence seized from the lockup.
Among this evidence was several WhatsApp and Facebook messages on mobile phones registered to Davies.
A drugs expert witness for Dyfed-Powys Police explained that these messages suggested that Davies was a known and active drug dealer in the area.
One message asked Davies “what’s the cheapest on half z pal” – the expert witness explained that “half z” – refers to a half ounce (14 grams) street deal of controlled drugs, which he believed to be cannabis in this instance.
Another message received by Davies read “Let me know when U active”, with the expert witness clarifying that “active” is a slang term referred to in drugs supply. He explained that “a dealer is ‘active’ when they have drugs for sale.”
The 17 snap bags of cocaine were packaged in a way that suggested they’d been prepared for onward supply. The expert witness concluded that the amount of drugs seized exceeded the amount that could be reasonably considered for personal use.
The strength of evidence against Davies led him to enter a guilty plea for possession with intent to supply when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Monday 20 October.
Davies returned to court the next day where he was sentenced to three years behind bars for his drug offences. He also pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property and was ordered to hand over the £46,000 in cash to Dyfed-Powys Police.
💬 The officer leading the case, DC Steve Thomas, said: “The quick-thinking of our PCSOs ultimately led us to Davies, allowing us to take another criminal off our streets. I hope this case shows that we have the means and motivation to investigate and prosecute those who disregard public safety by dealing drugs in our community. We will continue to take robust action against drugs in our area.”
