A DRUG dealer who sold crack cocaine to an undercover police officer six times has been jailed for almost four years.

Mohammed Sardar was caught as part of Operation Saintpond, an ongoing investigation run by the Organised Crime Unit of Bradford, Yorkshire, and Humberside to tackle street dealing of Class A drugs in West and North Yorkshire.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Sardar, 27, of Bradford Street, Keighley, sold multiple wraps of crack cocaine to the officer between September 14 and October 26 last year.

Prosecutor Jessica Lister said Sardar, known as “Remy”, would reply to a drugs line that worked on a “ring and buy” basis with users calling to order direct from a supplier.

Miss Lister said: “It is noted that the purchases by [the undercover officer] were simply a small sample of the drug dealing that this defendant was engaged in on a daily basis.

“Prior to the specific incident in which [the officer] engaged with the defendant, he had also engaged with other drug users in order to make contact with the defendant.

“On September 13 one of the drug users used the officer’s phone to call the Remy line. Once he had obtained that number throughout the period of offending, he received regular messages from Remy advertising the sale of drugs.”

The officer asked how much he would have to pay and was told three wraps for £25 or 12 for £100.

On the occasion of the first deal, he paid Sardar £100 for nine wraps of crack cocaine. Over the following days and into October he continued his purchases.

In a victim impact statement read to the court Inspector John Barker, who heads Keighley Neighbourhood Policing Team, said incidents of criminal damage and public disorder in Keighley over the past two years could be linked to drug dealing.

He said concerns are regularly expressed to him by members of the public “who want the police to do more to eradicate this behaviour”.

He highlighted the significant impact that the sustained supply of Class A drugs was having on the people, the communities, and the businesses of the Keighley area and asked that the sentencing powers of the court take this into account.

Sardar was arrested after being identified and pleaded guilty to six counts of supplying a Class A drug.

The court heard he had previous convictions for possession of Class A and B drugs as well as wounding, for which he had served prison sentences.

Miss Lister said Sardar occupied an operational role as he was taking orders and running and advertising his own operation as well as selling directly to street users.

Mitigating, Richard Holland said Sardar had “fallen on hard times” and was involved in drug dealing to pay off an accumulated drug debt and to fund his own addiction.

He said: “It’s how drug dealers are recruited into this sort of operation.”

Sentencing Sardar to three years and nine months imprisonment His Honour Judge Colin Burn said he had been dealing in “a particularly unpleasant addictive drug”.

He added that he had made “a significant contribution to the notable drug dealing problem and counterculture in the very centre of Keighley, which has caused so much damage and misery to the overwhelming majority of the residents of Keighley who are law-abiding.”

He added: “You were involved in some kind of organisation. You were in effect running two [drug] lines, taking orders, delivering the drugs, and collecting the money. In any view, a significant role.”

He ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs seized.