A DRUG dealer on the run in Pakistan coined in up to £2.5 million in his role as a “trusted lieutenant” for the richly profitable Bradford Sully Line heroin and crack cocaine supply ring.

Mujahid Mahmood, 28, of Hollins Street, Manningham, Bradford, flew to Islamabad part-way through his trial at Bradford Crown Court and was jailed for ten years in his absence.

Yesterday, the court heard that Mahmood was still wanted on an arrest warrant and not expected to return to Bradford to contest the Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation hearing.

Deborah Smithies, for the Crown, said his benefit from drug dealing was set as just over £2.5 million, with the available amount being the £74 in cash the police seized from him when he was arrested.

He fled the country two days after telling a jury he had £60 in his bank account and his last car was a second-hand Skoda.

Mahmood claimed he was currently unemployed but had worked in a phone shop. He told the court during his trial that he had friends from his local area who used drugs and who supplied them.

“If I was a drug dealer, I would have paid my mortgage off and be leading a luxury life. I don’t even have a car,” he said.

After giving his evidence, Mahmood was bailed over the weekend and legged it on the Sunday.

Police enquiries revealed that he had caught a flight to Islamabad.

He was convicted in his absence of conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine following his arrest in March 2018.

Mahmood was among 12 people to receive jail sentences in June, 2019, for their roles in the lucrative Sully Line.

The “ring and bring” operation in central Bradford took up to 700 orders a day and had a turnover of up to £10 million in just over a year.

Other defendants sentenced at the same time are also being pursued for their ill-gotten gains.

Back in court from prison was Mohammed Ayaz, 29, of Quaker Street, Undercliffe, Bradford, who was jailed for 13 years and two months. He was a director of the Sully Lane, playing a leading role in its operation.

His benefit from drug dealing was set at £2,580,000, with just £10 given as the amount of money he had available.

Miss Smithies stressed that the “big benefit figure” of more than £2.5 million would be shared with others when the confiscation orders were finally settled.

Mohammed Vanid Khan, 45, of Cumberland Road, Lidget Green, Bradford, who was jailed for four years and two months, had his benefit figure put at £18,116. Khan, who chose not to attend the hearing from prison, also had £10 as his available amount.

Shazad Saleem, 41, of Duchy Drive, Heaton, Bradford, was locked up for 18 months. Today, his benefit was put at £3,220, with £10 as the available amount.

Hareem Hussain, 22, of Charteris Road, Lower Grange, Bradford, was jailed for three years and nine months. Her benefit was £2,597, with £2,260 being the available amount.

Judge Jonathan Rose, who jailed the defendants last year, made confiscation orders in the cases of Mohammed Vanid Khan, Shazad Saleem and Hareem Hussain.

The Sully Line, first set up in 2012, received 229,000 calls between July 2017 and August 2018.

It was centred on Bradford’s Lumb Lane in Manningham and manned 24 hours a day, supplying heroin and crack cocaine to a stream of addicts who rung from phone boxes with their orders.

“It was a business that never closes,” Judge Jonathan Rose said when he jailed the dealers.

Speaking after sentencing in June, Detective Inspector Matt Walker, of the Bradford Organised Crime Unit, said: “West Yorkshire Police is committed to tackling the supply of illegal drugs and bringing those involved in this criminal activity to justice."

He added: “Information from the public is key to the success of our investigations."