A DRUG dealer caught red-handed by police selling heroin and cocaine in a Bradford street has been jailed for three years.

Asad Iqbal, 23, was already the subject of two community orders when police saw him take part in a suspected deal in Trafalgar Street in Manningham at about 6.40pm on March 4.

Prosecutor Paul Nicholson told Bradford Crown Court that Iqbal had been driving a Ford Focus that was flagged down by a known drug-user who was being watched by plain-clothes police.

After the exchange was made, officers followed the car and boxed it in to perform a drugs search.

Iqbal revved his engine and tried to escape the scene, forcing one officer to smash the driver’s window and apprehend him.

He admitted that he had drugs in his pocket and more hidden under the gear stick of the car.

After searching Iqbal, police found 21 wraps of heroin and 27 wraps of cocaine, the latter with a purity of 96 per cent. Officers recovered a further 40 wraps of cocaine from the car and £166 in cash. The total street value of the drugs was given as £628.25.

Mr Nicholson said Iqbal’s benefit from his offending, which he described as playing a “significant role in street dealing”, had been agreed at £1,195.

Iqbal had pleaded guilty to the possession of class A drugs with an intent to supply.

The court heard that at the time of the offence, Iqbal was subject to community orders for common assault and affray, and for causing racially aggravated harm, alarm, or distress, including one incident in which he hurled racist abuse at a police officer while at Trafalgar House police station in Bradford.

Jeremy Hill-Baker, for Iqbal, of Toller Lane, Heaton, Bradford, said his client had shown “stupidity and immaturity” in committing his first drug-related offence. He said Iqbal had fallen into a spiral of offending from March last year due to “unresolved grief” over the death of his baby son.

Judge Jonathan Rose told Iqbal: “It is often said in these courts that class A drugs are the scourge of this city. They perpetuate addiction and cause criminality.

“Over the last year or so, you have embarked in ongoing anti-social behaviour culminating in this very serious offence.

“You were playing a significant role. You were trusted with the money and drugs of a very high purity. These drugs cause untold damage.

“You made a deliberate choice to engage in the drugs trade and now you must pay the consequences for doing so.”