A 'foot soldier' in a trafficking gang is behind bars today after he was caught with £19,000 of cocaine in his car.

Dean Wall, 26, of Arkwright Street, Tyersal, Bradford, was arrested as part of an investigation by the National Crime Squad into drug trafficking.

Bradford Crown Court heard that NCS officers seized 14 kilos of heroin, with an estimated street value of £1.4m, from a house in Snowden Road, Shipley, in December last year.

A purpose-built hydraulic press for packing blocks of heroin was found in the cellar and the numbered packaging indicated the amount recovered was part of at least a 100-kilo haul.

A man living at the address, Steven Tatum, also 26, was arrested and was jailed for 11 years at Bradford Crown Court in February for possessing heroin with intent to supply.

Police inquiries led them to recover a Vauxhall Astra from outside Wall's house, which they took to a recovery compound.

They found a rucksack in the boot with seven knotted clear plastic bags containing white powder and a second package, made up from three plastic bags which held a block of compressed powder.

Analysis showed the powder was cocaine. It had a total weight of 319 grams and nearly a third of it was pure cocaine. The drug had an estimated street value of £19,140. Wall was arrested later that day when he turned up at the compound, claiming to be the owner.

Prosecutor Howard Crowson told the court Wall initially said he had bought the car, but had not looked in the boot. But in a later police interview he said he had been asked to do a favour for someone and had agreed to swap his car for the Astra.

Wall, who had no previous convictions, told Judge Peter Benson he discovered the drugs after taking the rucksack home.

"I didn't know what drugs they were," he said. "I put it back in the car. I didn't want anything to do with it."

Yesterday he was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

Acting Superintendent Gerry Smyth, of the National Crime Squad, said: "Wall was basically a 'foot soldier' in the criminal enterprise. Without people such as him the larger criminal organisations find it difficult to function.

"Through the arrest of Wall and Tatum and their subsequent convictions we have disrupted an organised criminal enterprise and stopped them distributing Class A drugs throughout West Yorkshire."

The National Crime Squad has seized drugs with a total street value of around £1 billion since 1998. In that time it has disrupted more than 1,500 criminal networks, arrested 5,000 offenders and identified more than £139 million of criminals' assets for confiscation.