POLICE who visited a Bradford man’s flat during house-to-house inquiries found drugs worth more than £10,000 on the premises.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Tayyab Ali was supplying heroin, cocaine, and cannabis as part of a debt owed to drug dealers in the city who had made threats towards him.

The court heard that he was a “trusted custodian” with drug paraphernalia in his flat on Sunbridge Road in Bradford, which was seized by police.

Prosecutor Alisha Kaye told the court that 29-year-old Ali had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply but that the Crown did not accept his story that he was dealing drugs to pay off a debt.

She said he had “a significant role” within a wider chain and that he had refused to divulge a pin number to a phone that officers believed contained information about drug dealing.

Police visited Lennon House on Sunbridge Road on December 29, 2021, to make inquiries on an unrelated matter. When Ali opened his door officers smelled cannabis and saw equipment used to cultivate the plant.

They also saw drugs that they recognised as cocaine, heroin, and cannabis.

That included 47g of cocaine with a street value of £4,700, 60g of heroin valued at £6,010, and 131g of cannabis valued at £1,080. Ali also had £360 in cash.

Ali was arrested and taken into custody where he answered “no comment” to questions and refused to divulge the pin number to his phone.

Mitigating for Ali, of Wickham Avenue, Wibsey, Shufqat Khan said he had had a “chronic” drug addiction and had run up a debt to a dealer.

He suggested Ali had been “vulnerable and exploited” and that his flat had become known to drug users and dealers who had taken advantage of him.

He said he had been subject to “pressure, coercion and intimidation” and that “when they issued threats of violence he was going to comply.”

He said Ali was now free of drugs and had the offer of a job.

Her Honour Judge Sophie McKone told Ali: “You know the danger of drugs. You know what it does to people, not just to the people that take the drugs but to society in general. So you know how bad it is, and you became involved in that world.”

Accepting that Ali had worked hard to live a crime-free life since his arrest she imposed a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered Ali to carry out 250 hours unpaid work and undertake 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

She also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs, phone and paraphernalia, and the forfeiture of the cash.