#JAILED | A woman found driving around with Drugs

A woman found driving around Cardiff with a haul of drugs in her trouser waistband has been jailed.

Minnie Melville was arrested by the #OpSceptre knife crime team on Richmond Road in #Roath, Cardiff.

Pc Heath, from the #OpSceptreTeam, stopped her silver Honda Jazz believing it was linked to drug dealing in the city.

And his suspicions were right.

Melville, 21, had a number of bags containing cocaine, ketamine, MDMA and LSD, concealed in her trouser waistband (pictured) along with £440 cash in her wallet.

A further search of her studio flat on Newport Road during the evening of October 10, 2020 led to more cash and drugs being found.

In total, officers seized:

182 deal bags of Cocaine
87 deal bags of Ketamine
19 deal bags of MDMA crystal
15 Ecstasy Tablets
15 LSD tablets
£2400 Cash

The total value of the drugs was estimated at being up £9,725.

In her text messages Melville, who had moved to Cardiff from Scotland, described making lots of money in one day and there was nothing to suggest she was being threatened or coerced into buying and selling drugs.

She was charged with possession with intent to supply the drugs seized and, after pleading guilty, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday, February 4, to 40 months imprisonment.

Since April our Operation Sceptre Team, named after a national initiative led by the Metropolitan Police, have:

* recovered drugs worth nearly £4million and more than £300k in cash.
* arrested more than 230 people
* taken 65 weapons off the streets.
* carried out more than 850 stop searches in Cardiff alone.

This team is out there on the streets 24/7 making it uncomfortable for anyone who matches the profile of those involved in knife crime.

While violent crime is their focus, the covert nature of their patrols means they regularly arrest suspected drug dealers