A MAN was kidnapped and driven around Bradford in different cars while threats to kill him were made by a group of men who believed he had information about a missing drugs stash, a court heard.

Bradford Crown Court heard the victim was at one point bundled into a car boot and was assaulted in an effort to find out what had happened to the valuable haul.

Five men are on trial for kidnap.

Rashel Ahmed, 27, of Browning Street, Barkerend, Bradford; Monzur Ali, 25, of Sunrise Court, Little Horton, Bradford; Ali Hussain, 26, of Tivoli Place, Little Horton; Shafiqul Islam Ali, 35, and his brother Shamsul Ali Islam, 38, both of St George's Place, Elizabeth Street, Little Horton, all deny the charge.

Ahmed, Monzur Ali, Hussain and Shafiqul Ali also plead not guilty to making threats to kill and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Judge David Hatton QC told the jury that the alleged victim, Christian Stanica, would be giving evidence from a remote location, rather than the courtroom, but that was a frequent occurrence in trials.

Prosecutor Ian Howard told the jury that Mr Stanica "had the misfortune" to live in a flat, in Mannville Terrace, Little Horton, opposite another flat where something valuable to the defendants was being kept.

"When that something went missing, they wanted to know where it had gone," Mr Howard said.

He said Mr Stanica's account of events started with two unidentified individuals attending the flat on the morning of August Bank Holiday Monday last year, and ending at 11pm, in Hipperholme, with police stopping a car that Mr Stanica had been bundled into the boot of.

The prosecutor said that Hussain and Ahmed attended the flats in the afternoon and Mr Stanica told them about the two men who had been there earlier.

Mr Howard said Mr Stanica was forced into a car and kept there for a number of hours. He said threats to kill and assaults were used to try and get information from him about their property.

He claimed that Mr Stanica was first driven in a black sports car, and then a blue Volkswagen Polo, to different locations in Bradford, including a food outlet in Morley Street and a location near to a restaurant in Great Horton Road, and the car park of a supermarket on that road, from where vodka was bought, which he was later forced to drink. He was punched while in the car and heard his assailants talking about drugs, including 'weed,' crack and heroin, being taken from the flat.

Mr Howard alleged Hussain, Ahmed and Monzur Ali were involved in Mr Stanica being detained in the car, but Shafiqul Ali was orchestrating what was going on, while Islam became involved later by driving his brother to the final location.

The trial continues.