A DRUG dealer caught delivering bags of cannabis around Bradford on Christmas Day has been jailed for 13 months.

Sharaz Ali had 16 deals of the Class B drug hidden under the seat of an Alfa Romeo car when he was stopped in Rydale Way, Allerton, by police investigating a break-in at a house in nearby Cote Lane.

Ali, 30, of Nearcliffe Road, Manningham, Bradford, pleaded guilty to possession of 21.43 grams of cannabis with intent to supply it on December 25 last year.

Prosecutor Nick Adlington told Bradford Crown Court today there was "an overwhelming smell of cannabis" when Ali was stopped shortly after 6pm following a burglary that he was not in any way connected to.

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Text messages on his phone showed that he was out drug dealing that day.

Mr Adlington said Ali had a previous conviction, dating from 2011, for for possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine.

The court was told that he pleaded guilty to the latest offence on the basis that he was a heavy cocaine user selling cannabis to fund his habit.

Mr Adlington said the value of the cannabis seized was £214.

Ali's barrister, Howard Shaw, said his client's best mitigation was his guilty plea.

He was dealing a small amount of cannabis to pay for his own Class A drugs.

"It was not a commercial enterprise in the true sense," Mr Howard said.

The offending was unsophisticated, with Ali using a mobile phone registered to himself to trade in the drug.

"He was supplying to answer his own problems and he accepts that this has to be a custodial sentence," Mr Shaw said.

Judge David Hatton QC said Ali had been supplying cannabis for "some little time".

He told him: "I accept that this was never a commercial enterprise except to fund your own habit."