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A twenty-eight-year-old British Bangladeshi father of two who operated a lucrative cross-city county lines network supplying crack cocaine and heroin into Leeds has been jailed for four and a half years at Bradford Crown Court. Sadhiul Haque, residing at Nottingham Street in Thornbury, Bradford, admitted to running two dedicated commercial drug supply lines between September 2025 and February 2026, which broadcast thousands of promotional text messages to substance users across West Yorkshire, primarily targeting the Pudsey corridor.
The sentencing concludes a proactive investigation spearheaded by West Yorkshire Police’s specialist county lines taskforce under Operation Phoenix, an enforcement arm of the force’s Programme Precision initiative. Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that detectives successfully unpicked a coordinated mobile distribution network, compiling extensive forensic and telecommunications evidence that directly linked Haque to the street-level peddling of Class A substances across district boundaries.
The Operation Phoenix Raid and Perfume Cover Story
Officers executed an early morning search warrant at Haque’s Nottingham Street property in February 2026, arresting the defendant and seizing £1,520 in cash alongside telecommunications hardware. During police interviews, Haque initially denied any involvement in illegal narcotics supply, claiming to detectives that the seized cash represented legitimate commercial proceeds from selling bottles of perfume.
However, technical interrogation of an iPhone recovered during the raid revealed that more than 4,000 incoming customer calls and enquiries had been systematically diverted to the handset from an active county lines ordering number. When investigating officers searched a Volkswagen Golf outside the address, they recovered keys to an adjacent Vauxhall Corsa. A subsequent search of the Corsa uncovered dozens of individually knotted street deals of diamorphine heroin and crack cocaine valued at £2,360, with forensic testing identifying Haque’s DNA directly on the inner drug wrappings.
Crown Court Proceedings and Judicial Rebuke
Prosecuting barrister Vince Blake-Barnard told Bradford Crown Court that Haque served as a central local distributor across a five-and-a-half-month campaign, dealing substantial quantities of Class A narcotics to dozens of regular buyers. Haque, who appeared via live video link from HMP Leeds, pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs and two counts of possession with intent to supply.
Mitigating for the defence, barrister Erin Kitson-Parker submitted that Haque had no previous convictions and that his criminal conduct was entirely out of character for a devoted family man. She emphasised that there was no evidence demonstrating her client enjoyed an opulent lifestyle, luxury sports cars, lavish overseas holidays, or substantial personal wealth from the enterprise, arguing he was operating beneath more senior criminal handlers.
Passing sentence, His Honour Judge Geoffrey Marson KC rejected any leniency for commercial drug distribution. Judge Marson remarked that Class A narcotics cause immense public harm, noting that addicted users frequently commit burglaries, robberies, and thefts to feed habits that line dealers' pockets. The judge told Haque that those involved in peddling dangerous drugs should expect no sympathy from the court, ruling that while others may have directed parts of the network, Haque had played a prominent operational role.
Police Crackdown on Cross-Border County Lines
Detective Inspector Helen Chapman, head of West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Phoenix taskforce, confirmed that the operation had successfully severed a persistent distribution line running between Bradford and Pudsey. Speaking to Daily Dazzling Dawn, senior detectives underlined that urban dealer networks frequently exploit regional transit corridors to supply suburban housing estates, bringing anti-social behaviour and violent crime into residential communities.
West Yorkshire Police reiterated that proactive operations under Programme Precision will continue targeting county lines organisers across Bradford, Leeds, and neighbouring regions, urging residents with information on illicit drug trafficking to contact police or report anonymously via Crimestoppers.
