A 21-year-old Albanian has been jailed for more than five years after he was involved in transporting and warehousing cocaine and heroin with an estimated street value of up to £200,000.

Edlir Gjoka came into the country illegally back in January 2023 and just three months later he fell prey to criminals involved in the drugs trade.

Bradford Crown Court heard how police officers stopped Gjoka as he was driving a hire car on Tong Street and they found he had £635 in cash on him.

Prosecutor Ayesha Smart said the officers also seized two iPhones and found two compressed blocks of cocaine weighing just over one kilogram in total.

She said the Class A drugs had an estimated street value of up to £100,000.

The sat-nav in the car led officers to search a property in Wingfield Street, Bradford, and there they found two more blocks of heroin and 14 cannabis plants being grown in the loft.

Miss Smart said the heroin also totalled just over a kilogram and was again estimated to be worth about £100,000.

Gjoka, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to charges of possession of cocaine with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of heroin on the basis that he had been acting as “a courier and a warehouse man”.

Barrister Justin Rivett, for Gjoka, said his client owed money to the people who helped him to enter the country illegally, but he had not come here intending to get involved in drug offending.

Mr Rivett said Gjoka was put under some pressure to repay his debt and he expected to get a sum of hundreds of pounds for his role.

He said Gjoka bitterly regretted his offending and now faced deportation after serving his sentence.

Recorder Andrew Dallas said Gjoka had found himself as “easy prey” for people in the drugs business.

“I’m afraid you very quickly chose to go into the drugs trafficking industry at a significant level and now I’m afraid you must pay the price,” the judge told Gjoka.

The judge the starting point for sentence was seven years in jail, but he reduced Gjoka’s prison term to five years and three months due to his guilty pleas.