A 27-YEAR-OLD Pensnett shopkeeper who told police he had more than £3,700 worth of cannabis for his personal use has been caged for 18 months.

When officers raided the shop in Church Road they found 81 wraps of the controlled drug together with a package containing 615 grammes of cannabis in a car.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard police also recovered £800 in cash from Hakeel Khan who, prosecutor Howard Searle said had a long list of previous convictions for drug dealing.

Khan, described as being seriously addicted to cannabis, admitted possessing the controlled drug with intent to supply and he was told by Judge Martin Walsh immediate jail was the only sentence possible.

The Judge told Khan he had squandered chances given in the past to deal with his drug problem and said: "This was a significant amount of drugs and, with commercial intent, this case passes the custody threshold by a long way.”

He said Khan had spurned the opportunity of attending a medical appointment to discuss his drug habit and this year alone he had clocked up two further convictions of possessing cannabis.

Harbinder Lally, defending, said Khan had a "long history" of drug addiction but he was now doing his best to resolve the problem.

He added: "There is some motivation - the penny has finally dropped. He has decided the time has come for him to seek professional help."