A ROOKIE drug dealer caught selling heroin and crack cocaine in Bradford twice in the space of three days has been jailed.

Prosecutor Alisha Kaye told Bradford Crown Court that at around 11.20am on January 6, officers suspected that the occupants of an Audi A3 were dealing drugs in the Manningham area of the city.

After following the vehicle to Grattan Road, they stopped and found Anwar Sheikh, 21, in the front passenger seat.

On searching him, they found two packages containing 67 wraps of heroin, with an average purity of 50 per cent and combined street value of £338, and 30 wraps of 91 per cent proof crack cocaine, worth £213.

He was also carrying £140 cash and two mobile phones.

On his arrest, Sheikh admitted he had been ‘street-dealing’ for around a week, earning a wage of £140 per day.

He said he was unable to get a job and had turned to dealing to earn some money.

He was granted bail, but just two days later, on January 8, was found in a car stopped by officers in Church Street, Manningham.

On this occasion, Sheikh was found with 46 wraps of heroin, with a 51 per cent purity rating and a vaule of £261, and 25 wraps of 94 per cent proof crack cocaine, said to be worth £180.

He had around £20 on him, but officers then found a further £140 hidden down his trousers.

The defendant said he was working that day to pay off debts as a result of having the drugs seized from him two days earlier.

He said he again had a driver and was being directed by phone as to where to go and complete the deals.

Sheikh, of Greenfield Avenue, Shipley, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing class A drugs with an intent to supply.

Nigel Edwards, defending, said his client had no previous convictions and had never taken any drugs himself.

He said Sheikh and his partner had seen their benefits stopped, and needed money to care for their one year-old daughter, who suffers from a heart defect.

Mr Edwards said: “He was motivated by financial need rather than financial advantage. He had no option. It was a financial necessity.

“He was involved by the exploitation of his own position and had no influence on those higher up the chain.”

He added that Sheikh, who became a father for the second time last week, had only played a lesser role and described his offending as a “blip in an otherwise clean record.”

Recorder Jeremy Hill-Baker told Sheikh he was able to pass concurrent sentences for the two offences due to the defendant’s personal mitigation.

Sentencing Sheikh to 28 months in prison, he said: “You were playing your part in the distribution of class A drugs.

“I accept there were considerable domestic problems that you were labouring under.

“Having said that, there can be no alternative to an immediate custodial sentence.”