A judge said a drugs pusher’s phones should be analysed by the police to establish if he was dealing heroin and crack cocaine or simply running them for others.

Eri Moreira Missi, 22, was arrested on January 17 by plainclothes police officers who had watched him cycle into an Oxford alleyway for a clandestine meeting with a known addict.

Prosecutor Adam Squibbs told Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday (February 7) that the Headington man had an iPhone, £267 in cash and his Portuguese ID documents on him.

But when they got back to the police station and strip-searched him, the officers found he was hiding 67 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine in his underpants.

His girlfriend’s flat was also searched. Inside a suitcase that she confirmed belonged to Missi, the officers discovered a roll of clingfilm – a material commonly used to wrap ‘street deals’ of drugs.

Missi, of Headley Way, Oxford, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court last month to possession with intent to supply class A drugs. He had no previous convictions in the UK or abroad.

When Mr Squibbs asked for forfeiture of the phones seized during the police investigation, Judge Ian Pringle KC asked whether they had been analysed by the police.

Told they had not been, the judge asked for the prosecutor to see that it was done. He said: “The download of his phone in this case is crucial to be able to properly categorise where he falls.”

If messages were found on his phone indicating he was performing a ‘lesser role’, running the drugs for someone else, he could expect to receive a lower sentence than if he was organising the business himself.

The case was relisted for March 7. Missi was remanded in custody.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward