THE ‘boss’ of a drugs ring set up to flood the streets of Burnley with heroin along with his ‘right hand man’ have been jailed for more than eight years.

Burnley Crown Court heard how the commercial operation was run from an unoccupied house in Canning Street, for which Whajid Khan was said to have paid £15,000 to buy outright.

Khan, who also bought a black BMW for almost £10,000 in cash, and his lieutenant Harun Gul were caught after three weeks of undercover police surveillance on the property, witnessed the pair coming and going just for a few minutes at a time.

The hearing was told how when the pair were stopped by officers on April 9, Gul had 25.3 grams of heroin, worth £2,530, in 11 individual wraps in a bag, together with £765.

Police searched the Canning Street address and found almost £5,000 in cash stashed under the floorboards, as well as a drawstring bag in the yard which contained items for preparing and packaging drugs.

Khan, of Kent Street, and Gul, of March Street, both 21, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin between March 1 and April 9 and possessing the drug with intent to supply, on April 9.

Sarah Griffin, prosecuting, said Khan had a commanding role in the operation and Gul was his right hand man, who sold street level weights to local dealers.

For Khan, Richard Taylor said he was working for somebody else. The defendant, who lived with his grandparents, had had a heroin habit for six or seven months, couldn't afford it and became involved in street level dealing.

Philip Holden, defending Gul, said he had been earning a modest wage, working under the instructions of others.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Newell said: “This was clearly a commercial supply, if not directly at the street level, slightly above it.

“There's ample evidence to suggest and prove this was a serious attempt to supply substantial quantities of a Class A drug."

Khan, who was also committed for sentence by Pennine magistrates, after being convicted of two counts of driving a Mercedes Benz while disqualified and with no insurance, in breach of a suspended prison sentence, was jailed for a total of five years.

His co-defendant received 42 months' behind bars.