A DRUG dealer who made £165,000 from selling cannabis in Ceredigion has been ordered to pay back just £2,200.

Alex Eberhard, 33, of James Close in Llanon, was sentenced to two years, suspended for two years, earlier this year for conspiring to supply cannabis and cannabis possession.

His co-defendant Gemma Howell had already been sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Following Eberhard’s conviction, Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings were opened to attempted to recoup any profits the defendant had made through his offending.

Prosecutor Craig Jones told the court that Eberhard had profited to the sum of £165,000 from his offending, but only had £2,200 available to be seized by the authorities.

Judge Geraint Walters ordered Eberhard to forfeit the £2,200 within three months or face six months in prison.

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The court previously heard that police approached a car in Penparcau in Aberystwyth on June 1 and noticed a smell of cannabis coming from it.

Howell, 30, of Plowden Road in Kidbrooke, Greenwich, was sat inside.

The officers searched the vehicle and a vacuum sealed bag containing a kilogram of cannabis was found in the boot.

“A further search of the vehicle was undertaken,” Mr Jones said. “Officers found a false bulkhead between the rear seats and the boot.”

They opened the secret compartment and discovered a further 14 vacuum sealed bags each containing one kilogram of cannabis.

Howell’s mobile phone was seized, and it was found she had travelled between Birmingham and Aberystwyth on five more occasions – on December 20, 2020, and January 8, February 7, February 28, and April 12 in 2023.

Her phone began receiving calls and messages from a contact named ‘Alex’.

Officers attended the address ‘Alex’ had given Howell, and when they asked to see his phone, he told them that he had lost it. However a phone was found “15 yards from his garden fence” which had the same number as the one that had been contacting Howell.

Eberhard initially pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis, but denied conspiracy to supply the Class B drug. He later pleaded guilty on a basis, which Mr Jones read to the court.

“I received 20kg of cannabis over a six-month period from December 2022 to June 2023. I would use some and sell most,” Eberhard said.

Mr Jones said the street value of cannabis Eberhard supplied was “in the region of some £220,000”.

Ian Ibrahim, in mitigation, said that Eberhard had been in contact with the Dyfed Drug and Alcohol Service (DDAS) since before his arrest.

“He realised it was a problem and tried to help himself before this,” he said.

“The use of any substances has stopped. Cocaine was used occasionally and cannabis more frequently.”

Alongside his suspended sentence, Eberhard was ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work, a 12-month drug rehabilitation order, and 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.