By Ashley Young-
A drug dealer who worked with his brother as part of a “county lines” team has been jailed for five years and four months, after he DNA found on drug packaging forced his admission to involvement in two Class A drugs conspiracies.
Their capture and subsequent sentencing brought an end to their co-ordinated drug dealing operation
Saleem Sadik, of Toller Lane, Heaton, was linked to drug deals seized by police from suspected “runners” in Skipton and Bradford, after his DNA was found on the packaging, a court heard.
The dealer was trapped last month, after a car was stopped in Skipton and the wrapping on the heroin and cocaine deals examined police revealed Saleem Sadik’s DNA.
It was the second time Sadik’s DNA was found on a packaging, the first being after a police operation in the summer of 2019, more heroin and crack cocaine deals were seized and again Saleem Sadik’s DNA was found the packaging.
His 38-year-old brother Naim, also of Toller Lane, was jailed for four-and-a-half years, after he admitted being involved in the second conspiracy which was disrupted by police in the summer of 2019.
Both of the brothers had previous convictions for drug trafficking offences and as part of their sentence the Recorder of Bradford Judge Richard Mansell QC imposed five-year serious crime prevention orders against each of them.
Prosecutor Richard Canning told Bradford Crown Court that the Sadik brothers had been “key players” in a drugs supply operation moving Class A drugs to Keighley and Skipton where they were sold to users.
“Saleem Sadik was involved in the preparation and packaging of the drugs for sale while Naim Sadik was in charge of recruiting and controlling the sales team,” said Mr Canning.
Jailing Saleem Sadik Judge Mansell said the brothers had played a crucial role in a “county lines” drugs supply operation which saw drugs brought into Bradford by train and supplied to users and addicts in Keighley and Skipton.
“You were not at the top of the hierarchy but working in a managerial or operational role with your brother,” said the judge.
“You and your brother played a significant role in this pernicious trade.”
Saleem Sadik’s involvement had spanned more than a year and he would face a minimum jail term of seven years if he was convicted of Class A drugs offending again.
During a separate hearing to Naim Sadik last month, Judge Mansell sentenced Rachael Campbell and Steven Montgomery to suspended terms of imprisonment.
Campbell, 53, of Whinfield Avenue, Keighley, and Montgomery, 48, of Jubilee Close, Skipton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin, between August 14, 2019, and September 13, 2019.
The court heard that both defendants worked as street dealers for the drugs supply operation that used the railway network on the Aire Valley line to collect drugs from West Yorkshire and transport them to North Yorkshire to sell on.
Surveillance evidence had shown Naim Sadik driving to Frizinghall Station in Bradford, collecting a male and then driving to a location where he kept a stash of class A drugs, then handing deals to the male drugs runner who would sell them during the day.
Judge Mansell said both Campbell and Montgomery were performing lesser roles in the operation to fund their addictions.
Campbell was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with 25 rehabilitation activity days.
Montgomery was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with a nine month drug rehabilitation requirement and up to 20 rehabilitation activity days.