A 25-year-old man from Clacton is this beginning a two-and-a-half year prison sentence for possession with intent to supply of two class A drugs and common assault.

Jamal Coipel, of Glebe Way, was jailed at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to supply cocaine, one count of possession with intent to supply heroin and one count of assault.

He was arrested on Olivers Road, Clacton, on June 24 this year after officers noticed he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and stopped the van in which he was travelling during a road safety operation.

Eagle-eyed officers spotted Coipel trying to conceal the drugs in his trousers and arrested him at the scene.

Coipel was jailed for two and a half years for the drugs offence and four months for assaulting a police officer to run concurrently.

The investigation was managed by officers from Operation Saturn, a team set up in 2014 to tackle gang related violence and drug crime.