A MAN who sold brick dust to an undercover officer, telling him it was a class A drug, is one of the latest to be sentenced under Operation Moped.

Stephen Smith, 42, of Bournemouth, has been imprisoned for eight months after he admitted offering to supply drugs.

A judge at Bournemouth Crown Court heard he sold the dust – which he claimed was heroin and cocaine – to the disguised officer in clingfilm.

Darren Warner, 40, of no fixed abode, was slapped with a five-year ASBO and jailed for 32 months for supplying heroin.

Prosecutor Carolyn Branford-Wood said he sold the drugs outside McDonald’s in Boscombe precinct.

Brian Sharman, mitigating, said Warner is clean of drugs and drink.

But Judge John Harrow said members of the public had reported their concerns of “blatant, obvious” drug dealing to police.

The same judge sentenced Gary Tottingham, 46, of Boscombe, to 16 months behind bars for supplying cocaine.

The court heard he admitted a single count of supplying 94mg of the class A drug to the officer after allowing a dealer known as ‘Ray-Ban Man’ to use the toilet in his flat.

Richard Tutt, mitigating, said: “The dealer had the drugs inside him and was hinting he needed to go somewhere to retrieve them and carry out the transaction,” he said.

“He asked who had an address nearby and ultimately but with some reluctance Mr Tottingham said yes, he could use his flat.

“He had never been there before and Mr Tottingham was worried about this man knowing where he lived.”

After the man used the bathroom, he told the defendant it would be “quicker” if he took the drugs to the officer.

“Simply to get this man out of his address, he agreed,” Mr Tutt said.

But Judge Wiggs said: “In this transaction, you were in effect the middle man.

“You got sucked into this and didn’t have the willpower to refuse.”

A total of 51 people have now been arrested and 36 charged under Op Moped, Dorset Police’s biggest-ever drug initiative to crack down on street dealing in the Boscombe area.