A TEENAGE drug dealer was caught after he knocked on the door of a house while it was being raided by police.

Beni Alfonso was in Bognor last year when police found three mobile phones, £500 in cash, and wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.

The 19-year-old also had a lock knife in his possession.

But rather than help the police catch the “bigger fish” in the London drugs gang, he kept silent, and carried on dealing.

He was caught with class A drugs again at a property in Hastings, where he was found with a balaclava and gloves.

Judge Janet Waddicor sentenced him to three years and two months in prison at Lewes Crown Court this week.

"You felt you could reoffend at will," she told him.

Naomi Edwards, prosecuting, argued that he had played a “significant role” in bringing drugs from the capital to sell in Sussex.

The first police raid took place on September 6 last year, when police were searching a property at Queensway in Bognor.

He was arrested and held, but police did not charge him until August this year, when he was searched in Hastings.

Justin Pierce, defending, said Alfonso’s role was not a significant one, and that he was used by more senior gang members.

Judge Waddicor said: “The defence say you were under direction and performed a limited function within the operation, and were engaged by pressure and intimidation.

“The mitigation on your behalf is that in many ways you are a victim of the drugs trade, you are somebody that can be used at the whim of more senior operators.

“You travelled to places out of London to supply vulnerable people with drugs in Bognor and Hastings.

“The Crown points to the fact you were motivated by your own financial advantage.

“I would accept the point that you are not a naive young man, coming across this for the first time.

“You have a background of offending, including a criminal discharge for possessing class A drugs, which was effectively meaningless to you, as you felt you could reoffend at will.”

Alfonso, of London Road in Norbury, South West London, admitted possessing class A drugs with the intent to supply, and was given a two year and four month sentence, reduced from four years.

A further six months was added for possessing the knife.