Drug dealers armed with knife caught selling crack near children's playground

Johann Thompson, who had the lock knife, and Sam Manzambi were spotted with an addict at the underpass by Bradford Road, Portsmouth.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard plain-clothes police watching the area went to arrest the pair, who were sitting with 91 wraps worth £2,250 in a car.

Prosecutor Daniel Sawyer told the court: ‘They went over towards the car, shouted out who they were.

‘Thompson jumped out the passenger door and ran off,’ he added.

‘Manzambi, panicking, tried to put items in his mouth to swallow them and turned to crawl across the front to get out the passenger door.

‘He was restrained and forcibly prevented from getting away and from trying to swallow the drugs.

‘In the end he had to be CS gassed to prevent him from managing that.’

Now the pair have been jailed for 40 months each after admitting two charges of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

Judge Stephen Climie said: ‘This is a case where there’s a significant aggravating factor to the drug dealing. You were intending to ply out class A at a children’s playground.’

Thompson, who admitted having a bladed article, also admitted dangerous driving, driving while banned and two charges of damaging property in relation to a road rage incident on Margate Road, Southsea.

The court heard on March 1 Thompson had cut up another driver at speed then reversed at the man who got out of his car.

Former estate agent Thompson hit parked cars but then drove at the other man before getting out and throwing punches at him.

An owner of one of the parked cars turned up but Thompson pointed at the other man and said: ‘It’s his fault.’

Judge Climie imposed an extra eight months on top of his term for drug-dealing.

Both men were selling drugs to settle loans and Thompson denies driving at the other man in the road rage incident, the court heard.

Manzambi, 27, of Kent Close, Merton, London, and Thompson, 24, of Waddington Way, Upper Norwood, London, were caught by the drug team at Fratton station team set up in January this year.

PC Chris Akass said: ‘The Fortress drugs-related harm team is dedicated to making Portsmouth and the surrounding areas a hostile place for transient drug dealers to operate in.’