A TEEN suspected of selling heroin for a county lines drugs gang will get round-the-clock protection. 

The 16-year-old from Swindon, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before magistrates charged with possession of heroin with intent to supply and being in possession of £1,105 in cash, suspected by police to be the proceeds of his drug dealing. 

The drugs, which were said by prosecutors to have been stashed at his family home, were estimated to have a street value of up to £26,000. 

The boy entered no pleas to the charges. 

Magistrates remanded him into the custody of the local authority. He will be under 24 hour supervision from a private security firm. JPs also banned him from entering Swindon, Reading and London.

He is due before Swindon Youth Court on Tuesday, March 12.