Three Bradford men were involved in a conspiracy to supply heroin valued at tens of thousands of pounds, a Court heard.

Mohammed Usman, Howard Brown and Asim Islam were alleged to have played parts in a conspiracy to supply almost a kilogram of heroin with a street value of about £48,000.

Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday that the drugs were being supplied by people in Bradford and taken to somewhere in Lancashire, or further north.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford alleged that, on May 21, 2008, an exchange of drugs took place in the car park of a motor spares company in Leeds Road, Bradford.

He said Usman, driving a Toyota Corolla, was seen by police to hand a package in a carrier bag to a man called Ricky Vallance, who has already pleaded guilty to an offence connected to the heroin.

Mr Sandiford said Vallance drove to the car park in a Volkswagen Golf, with Brown in the passenger seat.

The Golf was stopped by police on the M61 near Preston, who found a brick-sized package containing 976g of heroin, of 51 per cent purity, said Mr Sandiford.

He said that two days later the Corolla was found abandoned in Parsonage Road, Bradford, with a carrier bag inside bearing Islam’s palm prints.

He said police found £500 in bank notes abnormally contaminated with heroin under a pillow in Usman’s bedroom.

Usman, 29, of St Stephen’s Road, West Bowling; Brown, 43, of Farncliffe Terrace, Manningham; and Islam, 28, of Warley Drive, Bradford Moor, all plead not guilty to a charge of conspiracy, with others, to supply class A drugs.

The trial continues.