TWO young refugees who were caught with cocaine in Aberystwyth town centre have been jailed.

Arish Ahmedi and Mehdi Zahda were caught in Aberystwyth on 3 October last year by officers with a stash of cocaine, phones, mobile SIM cards, and the keys to several properties.

When arrested both defendants denied being involved in drug dealing saying it was against their Muslim faith.

Megan Jones, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that police officers spotted the two men in Aberystwyth town centre and conducted a stop and search.

Ms Jones added that officers searched a carrier bag which was on the pavement at the feet of the defendants and inside found 30 wraps of cocaine in a mix of gram and half-gram deals along with bags of cannabis and a phone charger.

Ahmedi told officers he had only been in Aberystwyth for a few days and had travelled to the town looking for his friend Zahda who he had known for a couple of weeks.

The court heard that when the defendants' phones were examined no messages relating to drug dealing were found but data analysis showed they had travelled to Aberystwyth together from Birmingham on the evening of 27 September and had remained in the town up until their arrest.

Ahmedi, 22, of Stamford Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, and Zahda, 21, of Parkes Street, Smethwick, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply and possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

Ieuan Rees, for Ahmedi, said it was the defence position that the two defendants were young men who had been "exploited by more unscrupulous men and told to do the leg work" in an area 50 miles or more away from where they had been living after entering the UK.

Dean Pulling, for Zahda, said his client had grown up in rural western Iran near the Iraqi border and endured a "desperate upbringing characterised by poverty and oppression". He said that prior to leaving the country his client had experienced some brutality at the hands of Iranian border police which saw him being shot and subsequently having his left arm amputated.

The barrister said a detailed pre-sentence report had found evidence to suggest that his client had been targeted by a gang in Birmingham due his illegal status and vulnerability, and had been exploited since his arrival in the UK at the end of 2021 by being given jobs to do in return for food and shelter. Mr Pulling said Zahda was fearful of being deported back to Iran at the end of his sentence and of the repercussions which may follow given the nature of his conviction, and he said it was clear from the report that the defendant feels "a sense of hopelessness" in his life.

Judge Catherine Richards sentenced both men to two years, with the defendants serving up to half those sentences in custody before being released on licence or being transferred to a deportation centre.