A drug dealer has been ordered to go on a rehabilitation course after he was trapped by a major police operation.
Martin Way was arrested by officers investigating large scale dealers in Exeter and found with £500 cash and 22 wraps of heroin worth £350.
He tried to hide the drugs inside his body in an Easter egg wrapper but it was recovered after police took him to hospital, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Way, 31, of Station Yard, Crediton, admitted possession of a class A drug with intent to supply and was jailed for two years, suspended for two years, and ordered to receive drug rehabilitation and pay £440 costs.
David Bowen, prosecuting, said police raided the home where Way was living at Codrington Street, Exeter, in January and seized a mobile phone and cash.
He said: "They found food bags, plastic egg containers and scales which had traces of heroin on them. Way was arrested and it was suspected he had items hidden in his body.
"He volunteered the information he had an egg hidden and it was recovered at hospital and found to contain 22 packages of heroin totalling 4.64 grams and with a street value of £350.
"He was arrested as part of a larger police inquiry into two others who were in the business of obtaining large amounts of heroin and supplying to people like Way to deal on the streets. He was further down the chain."
Stephen Nunn, defending, said Way is tackling his drug addiction for the first time and hopes to be able to go on a residential rehabilitation course. He is working for the first time in many years as a road mender.
He said: "He was working for those above him in the chain and it was done purely with a view to funding his own long standing addiction."
Judge Phillip Wassall told Way he had only been dealing to fund his own habit and it would be in society's interest for Way's drug addiction to be treated.
