DRUGS conspirators who arranged the sale of heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of Worcester are facing jail after a waiter turned street dealer was arrested in the city.

Mertcan Dereli appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Friday where he admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine in Worcester.

The court heard that Dereli ‘together with Volkan Kurt and others unknown’ conspired to bring the class A drugs into the city between October 26 last year and July 19 this year.

Dereli, aged 22, of Commander Avenue, London, appeared in the dock flanked by two dock officers and was formally arraigned by the clerk, admitting both conspiracies.

The case was adjourned so Dereli can be sentenced alongside another co-defendant, Nejmi Atalar, aged 25, of Crooked Mile, Waltham Abbey, Essex who had admitted the same conspiracies at an earlier hearing.

We reported in April how Volkan Kurt, who had served meals in London restaurants, had something else on the menu when he arrived in Worcester to sell class A drugs.

The 21-year-old had his own 'congregation' of addicts by the city’s riverside but the dealer was spotted by undercover officers from Operation Blade.

Kurt was responsible for a drugs telephone line called 'the chef line' which addicts used to get access to Class A narcotics.

The investigation led to the seizure of hundreds of pounds worth of heroin and crack and around £2,000 in criminal cash, much of which was stashed in a Worcester hotel room where Kurt was staying. Police placed his benefit from the enterprise, including cash and drugs seized, as £2,997.

Kurt, of Mornington Close in London, was arrested as part of Operation Blade, a police initiative to cut the supply of class A drugs into Worcester from major cities, sometimes using young people or vulnerable adults to carry and sell drugs across county boundaries with the help of dedicated mobile phone hotlines.

He had already admitted possession of heroin with intent to supply, possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply, possession of criminal property, possession of cannabis and obstructing a constable in the execution of their duties, when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court.

Police officers in plain clothes spotted Kurt by the river Severn at around 1pm on Tuesday, March 6 .

Timothy Sapwell, prosecuting, said at the time: “They saw a group of users by the river, near the Diglis Hotel, congregating there and deduced that a drug deal was about to take place and spotted the defendant. The group made off towards the cathedral.”

The defendant was seen to approach a known user who was subsequently arrested and found to be in possession of two wraps of drugs.

He was taken to custody and gave a false name. When searched he was found to be in possession of two mobile phones, one showing a connection with the chef line.”

Police also seized £70 in cash, found eight wraps of heroin in Kurt’s underwear and a key card for a room in the city’s Whitehouse Hotel.

Officers searched the room where they found just under £2,000 in cash including large sums of coins, finding 74 wraps of class A drugs, each a £10 deal. They also found a block of cannabis weighing one and a half ounces.

In interview Kurt said he had come to Worcester looking for work, had brought the cash with him and claimed the drugs were for his own personal use. Kurt later claimed he had been dealing to pay off a drugs debt.

The judge jailed Kurt for 30 months.

A confiscation order was also made in relation to Kurt's available cash (£2,088) and a timetable drawn up for recovering other money he made through dealing.

Adam Western, prosecuting the two conspirators, said: "My submission is that the two defendants (Dereli and Atalar) should be sentenced together." A date for the next hearing was not set. Dereli was remanded in custody.

Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC said the defendants faced an 'inevitable custodial sentence'.