A TAXI driver and his two sons have been jailed for a total of almost 30 years for their roles in a drugs plot which saw a man kidnapped off a Bradford street and beaten and interrogated.

The terrified victim’s car was boxed-in, he was dragged into another vehicle and then repeatedly assaulted during an eight-hour ordeal in which he was accused of stealing £300,000 worth of drugs.

In the dock at Bradford Crown Court today were Ahmed Butt, 27, of Whitby Road, Girlington, Bradford; Haris Ali, 28, of Glodwick Road, Oldham; and their father Zulfiqar Ali, 47, also of Whitby Road.

All three pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs part-way through their trial, prosecutor Chris Moran said.

Butt and Haris Ali also admitted kidnapping the man on May 1 last year. They were each jailed for 11 years and Zulfiqar Ali was locked up for seven and a half years.

Mr Moran told the court that members of the public called the police at 3.30pm to say a man was being assaulted in Willow Street in Girlington.

At 11.30pm that evening, the victim rang the police to tell them he had been forced into a vehicle, beaten and interrogated.

He said Butt had asked to meet him and he had sounded angry.

CCTV footage obtained from the area showed the man’s car being boxed-in by a white VW Golf and Butt getting out and taking the ignition key.

He and Haris Ali then tried to force him out of the vehicle while others were also present.

The man was kicked and then pushed while inside his vehicle into a business park. He ran off but was chased, caught, pulled to the ground and kicked in the face, Mr Moran said.

A passer-by called the police reporting someone had shouted: “Get him in the car,” before he was dragged by Butt into the Golf.

Haris Ali was also in the car and their father turned up in a black vehicle.

The man was forced into a house on Whitby Road in a bear hug where he was repeatedly questioned about stolen boxes of drugs valued at £300,000.

He kept denying any involvement in the theft but he was forced back into the Golf and driven for about 20 minutes with a hood covering his head.

He was then beaten at another address where “multiple people” were present.

He was asked: “Do you want to hear your mother crying?” and told the men knew where he lived.

At one point he was interrogated in the basement while terrified and fearing for his life.

Zulfiqar Ali was at the house and questioned him about the whereabouts of the drugs.

The man was then freed by his kidnappers on a street in Bradford at around 11.30pm and his keys and phone were returned to him.

He had suffered bruising and redness to his face, a sore head and ribs and grazing.

Mr Moran said that two addresses on Whitby Road that were associated with the family were searched by the police. Items seized included £1,655 in cash, a Samurai sword, balaclavas, a machete, two knuckledusters, a hammer, an air rifle and a stun gun.

Concealed in the kitchen ceiling at one house was a bag containing multiple knotted bags of cocaine with a street value of £28,300.

A victim impact statement from the kidnapped man said he now lived in fear. He was unable to sleep, he had stopped going out on his own and he was unable to work.

In mitigation for Haris Ali, Jonathan Rosen said the violence meted out to the kidnap victim was “relatively low level” compared to some cases.

Ali was very lightly convicted and the offences were out of character.

“He has well and truly learnt his lesson,” Mr Rosen said.

Anthony Barraclough, for Butt, conceded there was little he could say.

“I’ve looked in the barrel and I’ve scraped it and nothing comes out,” he stated.

He urged Judge Andrew Hatton to keep the total sentence as low as possible.

Oliver Jarvis said Zulfiqar Ali was a hardworking taxi driver who had been commended by the court in 2005 for apprehending a robber. He was on medication following a heart attack.

Character references before the court spoke well of all three men.

Judge Hatton said the kidnap victim had been left bruised and battered and he and his family had been threatened. Although his injuries were “modest,” he was terrified and now lived in fear.

“The whole situation related to the warehousing of large quantities of Class A drugs,” he said.

Judge Hatton accepted that all three men were remorseful and said none had any relevant convictions.

Zulfiqar Ali was jailed for seven and a half years.

Butt and Haris Ali were imprisoned for four and a half years for kidnap and six and a half years for the drugs conspiracy, to run consecutively, adding up to 11 years each.