AN ALLEGED kidnap victim yesterday told a jury of his fear after he was forced into a car by a gang of men and threatened with being beaten or killed if he did not give them information about missing drugs.

Christian Stanica told Bradford Crown Court he took the threats seriously and was scared.

Five Bradford men are on trial, accused of kidnapping Mr Stanica, on August 31, Bank Holiday Monday, last year. Four of the men are also charged with threats to kill and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Mr Stanica, who is Romanian, gave evidence through an interpreter, via a video link.

He told the court two Pakistani men had entered his flat, in Mannville Terrace, Little Horton, uninvited on the morning of August 31. They said they were looking for a place to use drugs, but he saw them off the premises.

Mr Stanica said that in the afternoon he was woken by banging on his door and recognised the voice of a neighbour. He opened the door to three men, who were agitated and swearing. They showed him that the door handle of the flat opposite was missing. They were asking who had done it and he told them about the two men who had visited in the morning.

The men said there were drugs missing from the flat and asked if he had seen anyone.

Mr Stanica said one of the men became aggressive and told him: "If the stuff doesn't turn up today, everyone in the house is going to die today."

He said: "They were swearing, talking very ugly about me and trying to intimidate me. I felt scared. I took it seriously."

He said he was told: "You're not going anywhere, you're coming with us."

Mr Stanica said the men called for "a guy and a car." A four-door blue or black Polo arrived and he was told to get in with the other men.

He said he did not want to get in. Asked, by prosecutor Ian Howard, why he had done so, he replied: "I was afraid."

He added: "They were accusing me of stealing. They said something about money and marijuana, loads of ounces of weed."

Mr Stanica said while he was in the car he was threatened with "beating and death."

Mr Howard has told the court Mr Stanica was driven to various locations around Bradford and was finally found in the boot of a car which was stopped by police in Hipperholme.

Rashel Ahmed, 27, of Browning Street, Barkerend, Bradford; Monzur Ali, 25, of Sunrise Court, Little Horton, Bradford; Ali Hussain, 26, of Tivoli Place, Little Horton; and Shafiqul Islam Ali, 35, of St George's Place, Elizabeth Street, Little Horton; all plead not guilty to kidnap, threats to kill and assault causing actual bodily harm. Shamsul Ali Islam, 38, of St George's Place, denies a single charge of kidnap.

The trial continues.