Anti-Drugs workers have hit out at a judge's suggestion that Bradford is the country's heroin capital.

The comment was made by Bradford Crown Court Judge John Cockcroft yesterday as he sentenced a heroin dealer to eight years in jail.

He said the 'evil' drug was now so extensively available in the city "it might be called the heroin capital of the country''.

His comments echo those of Bradford North MP Terry Rooney, who branded the city Britain's drugs capital in an interview with the Telegraph & Argus 18 months ago.

Since then the district has launched a three-year Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy. One of its six key priorities is tackling drugs and drug-related crime.

One of the main agencies involved in the CDRS partnership is Bradford's Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT).

Co-ordinator Alison Richards said: "The information we have from the national Health Authority database for people presenting themselves for drug treatment is that Bradford is by no means the worst affected area in the North.

"We are targeting heroin and cocaine because they are the most dangerous in terms of addiction and effects. Drugs capital is an emotive phrase which doesn't really mean anything. There is a lot of good work being done to tackle the heroin problem, but Bradford is no worse than any other large city."

New initiatives include a mentoring project to support heroin users, referring drug users entering the criminal justice system to treatment programmes and a support network for addicts once they are released from prison.

Geoff Hinds, co-ordinator of the Bradford-based Bridge Project, said it was dealing with 400 addicts a week - the same figure as April 1998.

The majority are under 24 and are heroin users. He said: "Our experience is that there is still a massive heroin problem in the city, but there is a lot being done to tackle it.

"It's simple to say it is the 'drugs capital' but it doesn't reflect what is going on."

As reported in later editions of yesterday's T&A, Mohammed Yaqoob, 28, was jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to five charges of supplying heroin and two of possessing the Class A drug.

Yaqoob, of Athol Road, Heaton, Bradford, is the latest street supplier to be caught in a police operation using undercover officers to make test purchases.

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