A 26-year-old man is only now answering for his crime of selling ecstasy pills in Wollongong mall when he aged 18.
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Cihan Ozdemir, who now lives in Northmead, fronted Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to supplying prohibited drugs.
A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to show up to court in May 2013.
But Ozdemir was only arrested in January this year - eight years later.
Documents tendered to court said Wollongong mall security guards saw Ozdemir, on CCTV cameras, meeting with different people along Crown Street on January 10, 2013.
The guards saw Ozdemir receive money before handing each person an item from his pocket at about 11.20pm.
The guards called Wollongong police who watched Ozdemir from an unmarked car sitting on a bench outside 7-Eleven at the intersection of Keira and Crown streets.
The officers saw Ozdemir stand up and approach the passenger window of a white Holden commodore that had pulled up to the kerb before it was driven away upon noticing other officers approach them.
Ozdemir was asked to hand the officers his identification before declaring, "OK, I'll be honest with you, I have something".
He gave the officers a small plastic package containing three pink tablets pressed with an image of HQ from his pocket.
Ozdemir was arrested and said they were for his personal use.
The tablets were 0.62 grams of MDMA, and $441 cash was found in his wallet, $240 of which he could not explain.
The officers frisk searched Ozdemir, who kept holding the front of his pants.
He was taken to a caged truck and asked to reveal the front of his pants, exposing a hidden bag down his underwear.
The bag contained 28 pink tablets, totalling 6.86 grams of MDMA.
Police seized Ozdemir's phone revealing messages that indicated he was supplying drugs.
"If I get dings I'll give some to you and you make a cut too," one message sent by Ozdemir read.
With an associate responding, "yeah if you want. How many you want me to sell cause I think I'll be at a different party to you. Let's riddle the street with your s**t".
Ozedmir will be sentenced in Wollongong District Court at a later date.
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