A teenage drug dealer caught trying to sell heroin in a Maidstone park has been

Kevin Tasta had also planned to supply crack cocaine when he visited Collis Park earlier this year, but was intercepted by police before any deals could take place.

Plain clothes officers had been patrolling the area on April when they recognised a known drug user entering the park from Hastings Road. They followed him and then saw Tasta also heading in the same direction.

The 18-year-old was seen to approach the drug user and was then arrested. A mobile phone and £325 in cash were seized. Other users known to police were then identified in the park, with one confirming he had also intended to buy drugs from Tasta.

Tasta, of Central Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex later confessed he had secreted 54 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine in his body, all of which were subsequently recovered. He later passed another six wraps, believed to have been swallowed as he was being arrested.

He has now been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.

Tasta was charged with possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply and possessing heroin with intent to supply. Tasta pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court, where he also admitted breaching a previously imposed criminal behaviour order, which placed restrictions on the number of mobile phone sims he was allowed to own or possess. He was sentenced today.

Detective Constable Emma Allison said: "We have been able to remove a drug dealer who has targeted some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Kevin Tasta would almost certainly have carried on supplying drugs to anyone who wanted them, had his actions not been spotted by our plain clothes officers.

"His actions will undoubtedly have also caused anxiety and concern for parents of children and other visitors who use the park and it is only right that he now serves a prison sentence."