A county lines drug dealer was caught red-handed by police trying to get rid of phones and notes showing where in Norwich to trade drugs, a court has heard.
Officers found Dujaune Mezu, 24, at an address in Dalrymple Way, Catton Grove, together with items linked to the supply of class A drugs to addicts in the city.
The court heard Mezu was "trying to get rid of or hide" items connected to drugs supply, including mobile phones and notes which were found in a bush outside the property.
Patrick Maggs, prosecuting, who described it as a "typical county lines operation", said some of the notes had details of alleyways in Norwich where drug dealing could take place.
The court heard police attended the Norwich address in August last year following the arrest of co-defendant Lenox Kapesa, 24, who was a passenger in a car stopped in Norwich.
He was found in possession of a couple of mobile phones and £600 in cash.
Enquiries then led them to the property at Dalrymple Way where the co-defendant was found.
A machete was also found under a sofa.
Mezu, of no fixed address, appeared for sentencing in front of Judge Anthony Bate at King's Lynn Crown Court on Wednesday (February 23).
He had previously admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine and acquiring or possessing criminal property.
Kapesa, from London, also appeared having previously admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine, acquiring or possessing criminal property and possession of cannabis.
Sentencing Mezu to three years in prison and Kapesa to four years, Judge Bate said one of the tragedies of county lines drug dealing was "it brought young men of talent and promise into its thrall" adding that they were just "exploitable foot soldiers".
Matthew McNiff, mitigating for Mezu, said he was "brought in as a dispensable functionary to do as he was directed".
The defendant wrote a letter to the judge asking that his sentence be kept as short as it can adding that he had realised "my life is no life".
Jude Durr, mitigating for Kapesa, said his client had been a student at university in Hertfordshire but "foolishly" dropped out during his second year and began abusing drugs.
He said his client "accrued a drug debt" and became involved in the county lines operation to pay back his debt.
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