POLICE caught a pair of drug dealers using an empty shop to store controlled drugs found heroin, cocaine, and cannabis on the premises, a court heard.

One of the men had cocaine hidden in his sock.

Prosecutor Paul Canfield told Bradford Crown Court that police decided to raid the disused shop in the Showfield area of Keighley in a planned operation on July 10, 2020.

They pounced when they saw Hassan Rashid coming out of the shop. He ran away but was caught after a brief chase on foot. When he was searched 10 wraps of cocaine worth £165 were found inside his sock.

Messages on his mobile phone related to the sale of controlled drugs.

Mohammed Ayub was in a car nearby. He attempted to drive off when a police officer opened the driver’s door but was detained and arrested.

Two mobile phones were found in the car and £480 in cash was in Ayub’s tracksuit bottoms.

When police searched the shop they found bags of cannabis, heroin, crack cocaine, and an air rifle.

The total value of the drugs was around £3,700. The men’s fingerprints were found on the wraps and on a thermos flask also containing cocaine and heroin.

In interview, Rashid admitted possession of Class A drugs. Ayub was found guilty following a trial.

Mitigating for Rashid, now 32, of Fell Lane, Keighley, Sarah Hopkinson called for a suspended sentence due to the “unjustifiable delay” in the case coming to court and his lack of previous convictions.

Mitigating for Ayub, now 34, of Ashleigh Street, Keighley, Ed Carey said he had struggled with drug dependency but that supplying drugs was out of character. He said Ayub had not offended on a similar scale prior to the incident.

Mr Recorder Patrick Palmer sentenced both men to a total of 18 months in prison suspended for two years.

He said: “There has been delay in this case not of your making and there would have to be a significant reduction [in the sentence] for that.

“More importantly you have both stayed out of trouble.

“It is because of that that I am prepared to take what is undoubtedly an exceptional course and suspend the prison sentences you both so richly deserve.”

In addition, he ordered both men to undertake rehabilitation activity requirement days – 40 for Ayub and 30 for Rashid – and each to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs seized, and the forfeiture of the cash.