SIX men have been jailed for a total of 34 years and three months after exploiting vulnerable teenagers to sell drugs on their behalf in south Wales.

Swansea Crown Court heard how gang leader Dwayde Stock ran the organised gang from prison, keeping in touch with them via a prison phone, which authorities were listening in on.

One of their victims was a 15-year-old vulnerable schoolboy who the gang selected because he was white, had an “air of vulnerability” and would be inconspicuous in the communities in which he was supplying heroin, the court heard.

The six, all from Newport, have now been sentenced for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and for exploiting vulnerable teenagers under section two of the Modern Slavery Act.

Dwayde Stock, 28, David Rustham Allen, 30, and Justin James Hensall, 36, were jailed for drugs and modern slavery offences. They received nine years, eight years and three months and six years and eight months respectively.

Joshua Nathan Jeffries, 32, Ottis Jeffries, 28, and Bernard Christopher Hurley, 37, were sentenced for drug supply. Jeffries was jailed for three years and eight months, while the other two were for three years and four months.

A spokesman for South Wales Police said that it was the force’s first prosecution of a county line for modern slavery offences alongside drug trafficking charge without the need for victims to give evidence to court.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Oseng-Rees said: “Exploiting vulnerable children in this way is unacceptable and the use of modern slavery legislation is an important strand in the targeting of criminal networks who manipulate vulnerable children and adults to maximise their profits from drug supply.”