Three brothers who dealt thousands of pounds worth of drugs from their Skipton restaurant introduced crack cocaine to the town, a Court heard.

Brothers Aklu Miah, Babru Miah, and Fojlu Miah, all of Keighley, appeared at Doncaster Crown Court this week, charged with conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine.

The court heard that the brothers had undercut other drug dealers in Skipton by selling their drugs more cheaply.

The court was told that the brothers, led by Aklu Miah, 23, of Bradford Road, Keighley, operated a web of drug dealing houses and contacts throughout the Bradford and Skipton areas.

As well as dealing from the Taste of Bengal Restaurant in Skipton during 1998, the brothers also used premises in Devonshire Street, Keighley, Western Road, Skipton, and a flat above a bakers shop in Russell Street, Skipton, to weigh and sell heroin and cocaine, the prosecution alleged.

A fourth person, Jane Thomas, 23, of Keighley, but now living in Manchester, who is also Aklu Miah's girlfriend, is also charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

All four pleaded not guilty.

A former girlfriend of Aklu Miah, Karen Syers, who received a two year prison sentence for drug dealing in 1998, described how she and Miah would travel to the Esso Petrol Station in Toller Lane, Bradford, to pick up heroin and cocaine before returning to houses in Bingley or Keighley to hide the drugs.

Syers, who had a £200 a day habit when she was going out with Miah in 1998, alleged that her boyfriend and his two brothers all dealt in drugs.

Under cross examination from Felicity Davies, prosecuting, Syers said she first met Miah in February 1998 at her home in Cumberland Street, Keighley.

She said she soon became his girlfriend.

She said: "It was obvious that he was dealing drugs.

"He used to bring drugs over on a daily basis to sell in Skipton. I used to go to Bradford with Aklu when he was buying the drugs."

Miss Syers told the jury she would take drugs from Miah as a 2lay-off" which meant she would pay for them later.

Syers said she would sell drugs for Miah.

As their relationship developed her own addiction increased.

In May 1998, Syers said she moved in with Miah in Russell Street, Skipton.

Aklu Miah asked her to deal heroin and crack cocaine for him to pay for the debt she had amassed.

She told the court how Miah's drug business soon began to boom as word of their cheap prices and good deals spread across Skipton.

She said: "Because the drugs were a lot cheaper than anywhere else in Skipton, the amount he (Aklu) was selling went up and up."

Earlier she told the court: "He had become more violent towards me," she told the court.

"He would say that I owed him money for drugs I had not paid for.

"He would hit me several times a week. He was obsessed with selling as many drugs as he could and if the money wasn't right, he would start hitting me."

The trial which is scheduled to last 12 days continues.

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