The drug-dealing managers of a notorious Bradford caf came close to pocketing £10,000 of Government cash.

But officials stepped in to block the handout destined for the Young Lion Caf in Manningham's Lumb Lane, after learning that its business partners had been arrested for serious trafficking offen-ces.

Last week the Telegraph & Argus revealed how Richard 'Bingy' Brown and Michael 'Benji' Benjamin were seized with massive hauls of crack and cocaine after a special 'anti-Yardie' police squad investigated their dealings with Jamaican gangsters.

Brown, 38, was jailed for 11 years after undercover officers watched him make a £55,000 cocaine drop-off at Leeds City railway station.

The drugs had been swallowed by a human 'mule' courier in Jamaica and smuggled through Gatwick airport.

Three months later, Benjamin, 34, was caught driving back to Bradford from the Midlands with up to £80,000 of crack cocaine stuffed into his trousers.

He is now serving an eight-year sentence.

Today, organisers of the Manningham and Gir-lington Single Regenera-tion Budget (SRB) - a group set up to distribute £9.7 million of Govern-ment grants in the troubled area - revealed that a £10,000 application from the cafe had originally been accepted, but stressed payment was never made.

SRB chief executive Jake Piergies confirmed he wrote to Brown about the approval in March but said the offer was made on condition the caf remained a "drug-free zone".

The cash was intended for a major refurbishment of the premises which has long been dogged by a reputation for drug dealing and Jamaican illegal immigrants.

Mr Piergies said that after the SRB learned about the arrests, the cash offer was immediately suspended. He added: "Not one penny has been paid to them."

He said the SRB management committee was due to meet in February to give a formal ruling on the withdrawal of the offer.

In July 2000, the Young Lion Cafe was the scene of a bloody street battle which saw its largely Afro-Caribbean clientele attacked by a heavily-armed, predominantly Asian gang.

Jamaican Dester Coleman was shot outside the cafe and was helped inside the premises to safety, but he died from his injuries.