Two promising young men who turned to street dealing Class A drugs to pay for their cannabis habits have each been jailed for three years and four months.

Religious student Tahir Afzal, 23, and Faisal Hayat, 22, who helped run community sports groups, had brought shame and disappointment on their families, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Both were arrested as part of Operation Stalebank, an undercover police crackdown on dealers peddling heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of West Bowling, Manchester Road and Manningham in Bradford.

Afzal, of Marshfield Street, Marshfield, Bradford, admitted six charges of Class A drug dealing in February and March.

Hayat, of Federation Street, West Bowling, pleaded guilty to selling heroin and crack cocaine on five separate occasions, between March and April. He also admitted driving without a licence and uninsured while hawking the wraps of drugs from a car.

Prosecutor Richard Davies said an undercover police officer saw Afzal in a Ford Focus selling drugs in Park Lane, Bradford. Afzal sold him drugs from a stash of up to 40 wraps in the vehicle.

He gave the officer his dealer line number and more transactions took place over the following weeks.

On one occasion, both defendants were in the car, Mr Davies said.

On April 9, the officer saw Hayat parked on Bowling Road, with addicts around his car buying drugs.

Nick Worsley, Hayat’s barrister, said: “He is a young man who made the wrong decisions. He has been very foolish and he accepts that.”

Hayat was of good character, involved with sports groups and was held in the highest regard in his community. He began smoking cannabis when his parents’ marriage broke down and was dealing to pay off a drug debt.

Hayat felt he had brought shame and distress on his family.

Shufqat Khan, for Afzal, said he was a religious student who devoted up to five nights a week to teach children at his mosque. “They were not his drugs. He was the man at the coal face taking all the risks,” Mr Khan said.

His family had made sacrifices to bring him up well and they were very disappointed to see him in court.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, told the men they were involved in a slick and professional operation to sell drugs on the streets.