A DRUG dealer has been jailed for three years after he was snared when police officers responding to an emergency call saw him doing twice the speed limit.

Panicking Atasham Afsar put his foot down when the patrol vehicle came up behind him with its blue lights flashing, Bradford Crown Court heard.

The officers, who were driving at 60mph in a 30 zone, then turned their attention to Afsar's Vauxhall Zafira, prosecutor Chris Smith said.

Afsar accelerated off down Bell Dean Road, Bradford, and was pursued on to Allerton Lane.

During the blue light chase, he overtook two vehicles on a blind bend on the narrow country road, Mr Smith said.

Afsar, 39, of Jesmond Avenue, Heaton, Bradford, was arrested when he stopped on Thornton Road.

Police found 30 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine on him, and in the vehicle, along with £295 in cash.

Afsar pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine at 11am on April 2.

He also admitted dangerous driving and driving without insurance or a licence.

Afsar told the police he was not drug supplying but buying drugs for himself in bulk.

The court heard he had 20 previous convictions, including being locked up for four years in 1998 for supplying Class A drugs and possession of them with intent to supply.

An entrenched drug addict, he had also been before the courts for offences of dishonesty and possession of the heroin substitute Methadone without a prescription.

Afsar's barrister, Sarah-Kate McIntyre, said he was genuinely remorseful and highly motivated to wean himself off drugs.

"He is 39 and feels he is at a crossroads in his life," she said.

Afsar had settled accommodation and was keen to find work and to lead an honest life.

He was selling drugs to pay for his own habit and panicked when he saw the police.

Judge Colin Burn banned Afsar from driving for 30 months.

He ruled that the defendant's benefit from drug dealing was £449, including the cash seized from him and the value of the drugs he was caught with.

Judge Burn made a confiscation order in the sum of £295 and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the heroin and cocaine.

He told Afsar: "It is obvious to me, but also to you, that you have a long-standing problem with Class A drugs and resort to illegal means to fund that habit, either by dishonesty or by scraping together funds by supplying drugs to others."