A SNIFFER dog helped to catch a drug dealer who had got off the train at Basingstoke with cocaine and mephedrone.

Daniel Coker was arrested at Basingstoke railway station on November 14 last year, during a police operation to stop drug dealers from coming into the town.

The 24-year-old, of The Brambles, Salisbury, appeared at Winchester Crown Court for sentence having admitted two counts of possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply, and one count of possession of cannabis.

Gavin Sumpter, prosecuting, said: “At 2.30pm, the defendant passed through the security barriers at Basingstoke railway station and one of the dogs moved towards him.

“He was searched by officers and initially they found a small bag of herbal cannabis and small bag containing mephedrone in the defendant’s jacket.”

The stimulant mephedrone, a former ‘legal high’ otherwise known as bubble or M-Cat, was classified as an illegal class B drug in 2010.

Officers found more bags of mephedrone in Coker’s bag, with a street value of £180, along with a set of digital scales and 25 empty deal bags.

Bags of cocaine, with a street value of at least £280, were found pushed under the internal cage door in a police van after Coker was arrested and taken to Basingstoke police station.

Mr Sumpter added that officers examined Coker’s phone, and found that he used the Blackberry Messenger service to keep in contact with drug users.

Trudi Yeatman, defending, said Coker was a low-level dealer based in Newbury who became hooked on mephedrone and sold it to pay off a £2,000 debt.

Judge Guy Boney sentenced Coker to a total of two years and eight months in prison.

PC Lisa Cooper, from Basingstoke police station, said: “This conviction and sentence should send out a strong message that people who deal drugs are not welcome in Basingstoke.”