THE MANAGER of a Bradford drug trafficking cell has been jailed for 11 years for his involvement in the handover of five kilos of high purity heroin worth £250,000.

Nisar Khan, 33, was yesterday convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs following a five day trial.

The sentencing judge, Recorder David Wilby QC, labelled Khan the “intelligent and capable” organiser of a cell bringing heroin into Bradford to be cut for sale on the streets.

Khan, of Parkside Road, West Bowling, was netted by a police surveillance operation in April 2015. During the trial, prosecutor David Brooke said officers stopped a black Mercedes following a drugs handover in the Kenmore Road area of Wibsey. A black Vauxhall Astra, driven by Khan, was also spotted and a blue holdall containing 12 blocks of heroin, worth about £250,000, was put into the boot of the Mercedes.

The Mercedes was stopped on Hollingwood Lane and officers recovered five kilos of heroin of 64 per cent purity. Khan, who was not arrested until about a year after the incident, told the police he was not there at the time of the drugs handover or using a mobile phone number linked to someone involved in coordinating the events that day.

The jury was told that one of the surveillance officers had identified Khan as the driver of the Astra.

Khan accepted that he had been in the vehicle while it was parked near his home about an hour after the Mercedes had been stopped. He said the Astra belonged to a friend and, when he became aware of loud music coming from the vehicle that evening, he got in it to turn it down.

After the jury’s unanimous guilty verdict, Mr Brooke said the high purity of the heroin was a significant aggravating factor in the case.

Khan’s barrister, Ricky Holland, said his was a significant role, rather than a leading one. Khan had no previous convictions for drug trafficking offences.

Recorder Wilby said he was convicted by “an abundance of compelling evidence.”

“You are an intelligent and capable man and it is clear that you put that to illegal means to organise the cell,” the judge added.