A TEENAGE dealer caught with thousands of pounds worth of drugs stored in his pants has been jailed for 32 months.

And sending him to custody a judge said the message had to go out that the dealers travelling to Swindon from London would be caught and dealt with.

Karim Francis-Reid, who has links to gangs in north London, was caught after suspicious community support officers saw him getting into a cab.

When he and a mate got out of the car in Rodbourne, police officers called in by their colleagues were waiting to search him.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the 18-year-old was seen in Denbeck Wood, Eastleaze, just after 1.30pm of Wednesday July 15.

He said the PCSOs, who were on foot, recognised some of the people he was with and thought they were acting in a suspicious manner.

Smelling cannabis coming from the men, they followed as the men got into a taxi which took them to Bruce Street.

"The community officers called warranted officers who, when the taxi stopped, searched both this defendant and a companion," Mr Meeke said.

"As they spoke to him a street wrap of what appeared to be a class A drug fell from his trouser leg.

"A further package of what appeared to be class A drugs fell from his underwear as they started searching."

Police found 123 deals of cocaine and 86 of heroin, worth £2,090, as well as £125 cash and a mobile phone which was PIN locked.

As he was arrested he told officers 'I only intended to use them for myself' but when he was questioned he refused to answer questions or say how to access the phone.

Francis-Reid, of Wembley, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing drugs with intent to supply.

The court was told he had a history of crime and was put on a youth rehabilitation order with supervision, the toughest community order for a minor, last February.

Selwyn Shapiro, defending, said that his client was still only 17 at the time of the offending and should be sentenced as a child, not an adult.

He said he had been raised by his mother, who works as a nurse in the maternity unit of a big London hospital.

While he had gone off the rails he said he had an older sister at university and an aunt who is a church minister.

At the time of the offending he said his girlfriend was pregnant and although she had a termination he felt he needed to provide so turned to selling drugs.

Jailing him Recorder Michael Vere-Hodge QC said "It is clear while you may have been 17 at the time you have a very bad record.

"It can't be said on your behalf that you have not been given a number of significant opportunities.

"Class A drugs ruin communities, they ruin families, they ruin individuals. This isn't the first time people from London have been in Swindon selling class A drugs.

"The message needs to go back that people from London will be detected and will be dealt with as in other parts of the country.

"You were found with a huge amount of drugs hidden about your person and money. You had a phone you refused to tell the police what the code to was.

"The only inference I can draw from that is there was information on that that underlined your dealing in class A drugs."