Cops bust pot dealer after seeing him on phone behind the wheel

A drug dealer has been busted with more than 100g of cannabis in his car after police spotted him talking on his mobile phone.

A convicted drug dealer busted with more than 100g of cannabis and thousands of dollars in cash after police pulled him over for talking on his mobile phone will spend six weeks in jail.

A CONVICTED drug dealer busted with more than 100g of cannabis and thousands of dollars in cash after police pulled him over for talking on his mobile phone will spend six weeks in jail.

Malcolm Thompson, 52, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to possessing a trafficable quantity of the drug and breaching bail after going “off the radar” for six months following the incident.

Crown prosecutor Collette Dixon told the court police first spotted Thompson with a mobile phone to his ear while driving a Ford Falcon on McMillans Rd in Marrara at about 3.30pm on August 18 last year.

DARWIN Buffaloes legend to spend four weeks in jail after pleading guilty to selling cannabis in an indigenous community.

After pulling Thompson over, the officers’ suspicions were roused when they spotted an open stubby in the car and asked him if he had been drinking — to which he replied “yes”.

A search of his trouser and shirt pockets turned up a “large amount of cash” and police asked if he had any drugs in the car, which he denied.

The officers searched the car and a drug dog sniffed out 113.55g of cannabis inside a lunch box.

A total of $5885 in cash was seized and Thompson was taken to the Darwin watch house where he recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.071.

Thompson was bailed to appear at the Supreme Court in March this year but was a no show and police found at a hotel in Pinelands six months later.

In setting a head sentence of eight months in jail Chief Justice Michael Grant said despite his two prior convictions for supplying cannabis, the offending this time around was “at the lower end of the scale of seriousness”.

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Chief Justice Grant ordered Thompson’s sentence be suspended after the mandatory 28 days in jail, plus two extra weeks for skipping bail.

“You flagrantly and contumeliously breached the terms of your bail, that’s conduct which has the very clear potential to damage the public interest and an appropriate penalty must be imposed,” he said.