A man was jailed for five years after he helped provide a sawn-off shotgun to an undercover police officer.

Ifzan Ishtiaq was hooked on cocaine, sedatives and alcohol, and was looking after the gun in return for drugs, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Prosecutor John Topham told the court that Ishtiaq’s co-accused, Raja Hanif, 24, had been dealing drugs to undercover officers before one of them, who was known as Daz, asked him to get a gun.

The court was told Hanif phoned Ishtiaq on November 19 last year, who then sent a text message to the undercover officer.

Minutes later Ishtiaq drove to Hanif’s flat, in Canal Road, Bradford, where his co-accused was waiting with the officer, before walking toward the flat carrying the shotgun.

When Ishtiaq entered the flat officers ‘pounced’, the court was told. Hanif was jailed for nine years at a previous hearing for the drugs offences and the firearms offence.

Ishtiaq, 28, of Craven Terrace, Pellon, Halifax, was not involved in the drug dealing, the court heard.

Sentencing Ishtiaq to five years in jail for possession of a prohibited firearm, Recorder Paul Isaacs said: “The real mischief here is that you, for whatever reason, and I accept it was because you were vulnerable due to your depression and addiction to drugs, took a firearm to a man who you believed at the time was selling it to people who would use it to commit crime.”

Ishtiaq’s barrister Abdul Iqbal said he had been keeping the gun in a garage in return for drugs to feed his addiction. Letters in support of the defendant were handed to the judge from his former partner, a youth worker, his neighbour and a member of staff at the prison where he was being held.

Speaking after the hearing a spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said a “significant amount of time and effort” went into the investigation, dubbed Operation Irondale.

He said: “Officers amassed sufficient evidence to arrest and charge people who are involved in criminal activity and who cause the most harm in our communities.

“Operation Irondale targeted people who have no consideration for the lives they are ruining through their drug-dealing and criminal activity.

“The nature and scale of the operation demonstrates our ongoing commitment to targeting criminals in Calderdale who think they can get away with preying on law-abiding people. I hope today’s sentence sends out a clear message to all criminals that we will not standby and allow people to live off the proceeds of their crimes.”