A Bradford drug dealer had more than £600,000 of heroin in the boot of his car when stopped by police, a court heard.

Armed officers arrested Fariman Khan as he left the M62 motorway at the Chain Bar roundabout, heading towards Bradford.

A holdall containing 25 packages of the class A drug was discovered in the car boot, Bradford Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Timothy Capstick told a jury today that the heroin, which weighed nearly 12.5 kilogrammes, was 50 per cent pure and had a potential street value of £616,250.

Mr Capstick told the court that Khan was arrested in September last year after police mounted a surveillance operation on him.

"He lived in the Bradford area and was suspected of being a drug dealer. Those suspicions proved to be correct," said Mr Capstick.

He said police followed Khan from Bradford to east London where he met a man who handed him a holdall which he placed in the boot of his Ford Mondeo.

Khan drove back to West Yorkshire and was stopped. His vehicle was searched and he was arrested.

The 25 packages of heroin had been individually numbered and nearly all bore a tiger motif.

Mr Capstick said forensic scientist Jennifer McMullen found and photographed 28 marks on the packages, 13 of which matched the thumb or fingerprints of Turkish-born Levent Atamturk.

Atamturk, 52, of Tottenham, London, has denied a charge of being concerned in the supply of heroin in September last year.

His trial was told he was arrested in January this year and interviewed in Bradford.

He told police he had been living with his sister in London and his brother-in-law had asked him to number and tape up some packages, but he had not realised at first that they might contain drugs and as soon as he did he stopped what he was doing.

He had argued with his brother-in-law but had felt unable to report the matter to police because of his sister, he said.

Mr Capstick said Atamturk's account was fanciful.

The court heard that a West Yorkshire Police firearms officer had twice deployed a Taser stun gun during the arrest of Fariman Khan, after he refused to get out of his car and then refused to put his hands behind his back.

Mr Capstick told the jury that Khan had pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to supply class A drugs, including the offence the court had heard about.

The trial continues.