DRUG dealers who kept their stash in Kinder eggs were caught with heroin, cocaine and crack worth up to £9,000 on the streets by police, a court heard.

Usman Ajaz and Asad Hussain are now beginning jail sentences totalling nearly 11 years after Burnley Crown Court was told they had dozens of customers in the borough and neighbouring Pendle.

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Police in Reedley struck lucky when they pulled over a Renault Megane on May 8 last year, in Manchester Road, Nelson, with Ajaz driving and Hussain in the front passenger seat.

Prosecutor Richard Haworth said a Kinder Egg was found wedged between Hussain’s leg, which contained four wraps of heroin and one wrap of crack cocaine.

Investigating officers also recovered at least three mobile phones and £1,020 in cash, from Hussain. Initially Ajaz claimed the money was his, as he worked in a number of shops, and Hussain claimed he had the cash for car repairs.

The home of Ajaz was searched, in Meadow Close, Reedley, and, along with money recovered from a BMW parked on the drive, another £3,200 was discovered. In the car’s glove box and other compartments was 53.5gram of heroin and 30.6grams of crack.

Mr Haworth said Hussain’s home in Thursby Road, Burnley, was also raided and a mobile phone was recovered. An analysis of one of Hussain’s phones showed that the simple message ‘On’ had been texted to 40 different people. The same message went out to another 80 contacts in a half-hour period on May 8.

The court heard that Hussain was also caught dealing drugs on the street in the Duke Bar area the following June. Ajaz’s home was raided again in November and heroin and unexplained cash was again recovered.

Jailing Ajaz for 72 months and Hussain for 58 months after they admitted drug-trading charges, Judge Simon Newell said: “It is street dealing but in volume. You are not just talking about someone dealing a few wraps.”

Philip Holden, for Hussain, said: “He had become addicted to cocaine and had got himself into debt. He was prevailed upon to deal on that basis and he knew what he was doing, and knew it was wrong.”

Isobel Thomas, for Ajaz, said: “This is his first time in custody and he has used that time to reflect on his actions and the effect it has had on his family and the people he deals drugs to.”