A BRADFORD University student has been locked up for trying to make money out of selling heroin and cocaine on the streets of Bradford.

Usamah Sultan was 18 when he was caught trafficking Class A drugs in the city centre on the afternoon of October 15, 2019.

Sultan, 20, of Bolingbroke Street, Heaton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply when he first appeared at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court.

Prosecutor Joseph Bell told Bradford Crown Court this week that the police saw two males behaving suspiciously at about 4.30pm. Sultan walked away but when he came to the attention of the police again he ran off. An officer chased after him and he was apprehended on Edmund Street.

Sultan admitted at the scene that he had drugs in his pocket and seven wraps were found on him. He made no comment when he was interviewed by the police.

Mr Bell said his bedroom was searched and 14 more wraps of Class A drugs were seized.

The total value of the drugs was £319, the court was told.

Texts on Sultan’s phone revealed that he was dealing in drugs, Mr Bell said.

Sultan’s solicitor advocate, John Bottomley, said he was only 18 at the time of the offences and had no previous convictions or cautions. He was “the boots on the ground” in the trafficking operation and threatened by those above him in the chain when he wanted to cease his dealing activities.

Sultan had done well at school and was now a student at the University of Bradford, Mr Bottomley said.

He had been naïve and exploited by other more sophisticated criminals.

Sultan had only a modest amount of drugs on him and at his home and a small amount of cash.

Recorder Thomas Moran said that he had been honest with his probation officer, telling him he entered into the drug dealing operation enticed by the idea of financial reward. He was not himself a drug user.

“This is a case which is about making money,” Recorder Moran said.

He conceded that Sultan wanted to stop selling the drugs but was he threatened and made to carry on working for the operation.

However, he started out by trying to make money from the terrible damage that drugs do to people.

Sultan was sentenced to 28 months’ detention in a young offender institution.