A MAN who had been staying in a hotel room for several months has been jailed for bagging up and supplying cocaine.

Shahid Saleem, 45, of Clifton Street, Keighley, had been staying at the Travelodge in Keighley when police raided his room.

They found cocaine and other items including notebooks in his room. Bank notes and bank cards were also found, along with three mobile phones.

The mobile phones seized from Saleem featured a number of messages which linked him to drug dealing, Glenn Parsons, prosecuting, told the court. The phone also revealed Saleem was conducting drug deals in Keighley and Skipton.

A total of 10 bank cards and four driving licences were found under the sun visor of his Peugeot 308 which was parked in a disabled bay in the hotel car park. Notebooks that were discovered also contained details of drug deals.

Cocaine with a total value of £921.24 was found in the raid on Saleem’s hotel room on January 4, 2019. He had been staying at the same hotel since September 2018.

Saleem was jailed for two years and eight months for possession with intent to supply a controlled drug of class A – cocaine.

In mitigation, the court heard Saleem was addicted to cocaine when the drugs were found in 2019. He was bagging up and selling the drugs to pay off a drug debt, Bradford Crown Court heard.

His mitigating counsel said: “He owed a significant amount of money from his drug debt. He was a daily user of cocaine.

“There has been a significant change in his life since January 2019.

“He no longer drinks or uses drugs. That was the root problem that got him into offending.

“He has proven over the last three-and-a-half years that he is capable of leading a law-abiding and constructive life.”

In July 2009, Saleem was jailed for four years when a jury convicted him of possessing heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine with intent to supply. He pleaded guilty to possession of GHB and amphetamine.

Judge Colin Burn told Saleem: “You were in the Travelodge in Keighley and had been there for a few months, bagging and distributing class A drugs.

“You were holding onto driving licences as collateral in collection of debts.

“You understood the position you were in and, at the time, you were taking class A drugs yourself.

“Your family circumstances have changed a lot since you committed these offences.”

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