drugs, was yesterday ordered to spend 18 months in prison.

Clyde Swan, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court to supplying 0.49 grams of cannabis on April 8 in Warwick.

Swan was just one of more than 20 people who were arrested and charged in connection with an unprecedented drug sting operation -- Operation Cleansweep -- in which undercover US Drug Enforcement Agents videotaped alleged drug transactions.

Crown counsel Wilhelm Bourne told the court that Swan had approached an American DEA agent and sold him $25 worth of cannabis.

But Swan insisted that he was just coming to the aid of a visitor who asked for some drugs.

"I told the guy that I knew someone who could supply it,'' he explained. "I went to somebody else and got it for him.

"I thought he was a tourist and I just helped him out. He said he didn't know where else to get it.'' Swan later apologised to the court and asked for leniency.

But Magistrate Edward King said the matter was a serious offence and pointed out that the community had to be protected from drugs.

Mr. King ordered Swan to spend a year-and-a-half in prison for committing the offence.