A THREE strikes Newport drug dealer jailed for seven years after making more than £13,000 selling heroin and crack cocaine was ordered to pay back £860.

Zekkam Ali, aged 30, was caught trafficking in the city while police had him under surveillance.

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A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Cardiff Crown Court was told that the defendant, of Alma Street, had benefitted by £13,215.

Ali only has £860 in available assets which Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said he must repay within 28 days or face a further two months custody.

She also ordered that the heroin and crack cocaine be destroyed.

During his sentencing in December, prosecutor Eugene Egan told Cardiff Crown Court how Ali’s home in the Pill area of Newport was being watched by cops.

He said further attention was brought on Ali when the occupants of a blue BMW near his house were seen acting suspiciously.

Ali pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

Quantities of crack cocaine and heroin were found after a search of his home, Judge Jeremy Jenkins was told.

Mr Egan also said that Ali had two previous convictions for dealing class A drugs.

In 2010 he was convicted of supplying class A drugs with intent to supply and three years later he was guilty of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

David Pinnell, mitigating, urged the judge to impose the minimum sentence possible and said his client had admitted the offences and was remorseful.

He told the court how the defendant had fallen back into drug dealing as a result of financial difficulties.

Mr Pinnell said Ali had lost his job before being presented with a tax demand he could not pay.

The court heard how the defendant’s fiancée was present to support him and that she would wait for him.

Judge Jenkins jailed Ali for a total of seven years and ordered that he pay a victim surcharge upon his release from prison.

He is due to serve half his sentence before being released on licence.