A pair of drug dealers caught red-handed at a Bradford house where millions of pounds of heroin had been processed have each been jailed for nine years.

The raid on a house in Carrington Street, Barkerend, led to one of the biggest Class A drugs seizures in the city, along with £28,000, a cash counting machine, weapons, a hydraulic press and phones.

Caught in the act of drug cutting or “bashing”, at the house were Imran Naeem, 30, and Hamza Ibrahim, 24, who had been wearing masks and gloves to bulk out the heroin in food mixers.

Naeem, who lived close by in Carrington Street, and Ibrahim, of Cecil Avenue, Little Horton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin, between June 1 and July 23, 2011.

They were arrested at the house after it was raided on July 22, 2011, following a major police surveillance operation.

Prosecutor Nick Worsley told Bradford Crown Court that when officers burst in they found a professional drug factory able to produce “a huge amount of street purity heroin”.

In the foundations, reached through a hole in the floorboards, were holdalls containing heroin, the cash counting machine and £28,090 in bank notes. Under the cushions on the living room sofa, officers found two samurai swords.

Mr Worsley said that on the first floor, the air was thick with acrid powder that indicated that heroin cutting had been on the go when the police broke in.

From the bedrooms, police seized a dealer list, heroin in powder and block form, and a press for compressing the adulterated drug back into blocks.

Naeem and Ibrahim were on the top floor. Mr Worsley said that, if mixed to street levels, the heroin seized would weigh about 32kg and be worth £1.5 million.

Empty wrappings suggested that up to a further 15kg of heroin had already been processed which would have a total street value of about £2.25 million.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Colin Burn said they had a hands-on role in the receiving, mixing, re-packaging and onward distribution of massive amounts of heroin.

Heroin was a life-threatening, highly addictive, drug that brought misery to addicts, said Judge Burn.

He told them: “You played a managerial and an operational role in the operation. You were caught red-handed in the midst of this sophisticated operation.”

David Bradshaw, Naeem’s barrister, said he was an intelligent man who had worked hard to support his family.

For Ibrahim, Andrew Dallas, said he became hooked on heroin and turned to drug supplying to fund his £200-a-week habit.

He took orders from “his masters” above him.