A WAREHOUSEMAN and courier involved in the exchange of nearly £1 million of heroin outside a Bradford house have been jailed for a total of more than 16 years.

Matthew Hurd, 24, and Kamran Hanif, 35, were under police surveillance when officers saw them make the deal on June 17.

They were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Hurd had also admitted a charge of possession of cannabis with the intent to supply.

Prosecutor David Brooke told the court that police had been outside Hurd’s home address on Woodview Terrace, off North Avenue, Bradford, when they saw Hanif, of Sewell Road, Laisterdyke, approach the front door with an empty bag.

Around half an hour later, he left with the bag “bulging” at the seams, and the pair shook hands before Hanif got into a taxi.

The vehicle was followed by police and Hanif was arrested.

In his bag, officers found 30 blocks of brown powder, each containing half a kilo of heroin, which was later found to be 55 per cent pure.

After witnessing Hanif leave the house, officers went to the property and saw Hurd trying to escape from the garden.

He was pursued, with the assistance of the police helicopter, and after crossing some railway lines was arrested in a nearby pub.

His fingerprints were found on a number of bags found in the garden and inside the house containing 55 kg of paracetamol and caffeine, substances said to be commonly used as drug cutting agents.

Officers also found 271g of cannabis at Hurd’s address.

Police put the street value of the heroin at £937,500, the mixing agents at £13,834, and the cannabis at £2,810, giving a total value of more than £954,000.

Jeremy Hill-Baker, for Hurd, who had no previous convictions, said his client accepted his role as a “warehouseman”, but argued there was no evidence he was involved in the distribution of the drugs.

He said he had become involved due to an inability to manage money and his cannabis habit.

“He allowed himself to be a person to store these powders,” said Mr Hill-Baker.

“He was a cannabis seller who came into contact with those who also had class A drugs.”

Mitigating for Hanif, who also had no previous convictions, Khadim Al-Hassan said his client had got himself into debts of around £1,500 due to a cocaine habit.

He said Hanif admitted his role as a “drugs courier”, but had played no greater role in the organisation than that.

Sentencing the pair, Recorder Simon Batiste said: “Class A drugs are a scourge on our cities, and Bradford has a particular problem with heroin.

“When someone is found to be involved, only significant custodial sentences can be justified.

“You, Hurd, were more seriously involved than you, Hanif. You were closer to the source of the drugs.

“By acting as warehouseman, you had an operational function within a chain. Clearly you had some awareness and understanding of the scale of the operation.”

He told Hanif that while he had served a more limited function, he had done so “to finance your debt to a drug dealer.”

Hurd was sentenced to ten years and nine months in prison, with Hanif sentenced to six years.

Speaking after the case, detective chief inspector Warren Stevenson of West Yorkshire Police said: “The impact of drug dealing can be devastating, often being the catalyst for other offending and ripping the heart out of communities.

"I hope that the sentences passed to Hurd and Hanif reassures the public that we continue to be committed to tackling drug dealing, as well as a stark warning to those blighting our neighbourhoods by dealing drugs that we will do everything within our power to bring you to justice.”

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