Heroin is "wreaking havoc in families'' and putting a strain on police and NHS resources, a judge has said.
Judge Stephen Fowler made his remarks at Belfast Crown Court where he jailed a "street dealer'' for one year, to be followed by 12 months on supervised licence.
Lithuanian national Marius Valentinovic (33), of Fitzroy Avenue in Belfast, pleaded guilty to possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.
It was the prosecution case that in November 2019, Valentinovic was observed on CCTV going to the back of a convenience store in Botanic Avenue with two other people.
He then "removed something from his mouth and put it on a shelf'' before a cash transaction took place.
Four similar street deals were observed over subsequent weeks, one of them involving a woman who was followed to a multi-storey car park on Dublin Road and found with heroin, needles and other drug-related paraphernalia.
When arrested, Valentinovic said he arrived in Belfast in October 2019 from Dublin but had failed to find work as he didn't have his passport.
Judge Fowler said he had 14 convictions in Lithuania for theft and robbery offences and two days before he arrived in Belfast, he had received an eight-month suspended sentence in the Republic.
The judge noted that police believed Valentinovic to be a "low level street dealer'' for a Lithuanian crime gang and Botanic was his deal patch.
"The supply and use of of heroin in Belfast, according to the police, has increased over the last couple of years, putting strain on the police and the NHS,'' he said.
"This has resulted in a year-on-year increase in opiate-related drug deaths.
"One has to remember the havoc that this wreaks on families within our communities.
"The organised crime gang in this case is regarded as the principle gang behind the supply of heroin in Belfast.
"The defendant had a modest role in this street dealing operation but it was also a necesary role in the overall operation."
