A DRUG dealer who secreted wraps of cocaine in his underpants in a failed bid to hide them from police has been jailed.

A jury at Burnley Crown Court was told how police stopped a car in Swiss Street, Accrington, and saw Sikander Ibrar Hassan in the front seat.

Hassan, of Malham Avenue, Accrington, was initially searched in the street by an officer but was taken into a nearby house and stripped naked.

It was then that police found 23 wraps of cocaine hidden inside his underpants.

Police seized Hassan’s iPhone but he refused to give them the four-digit PIN to unlock it.

Hassan denied a single count of possessing cocaine on September 20, 2017, with intent to supply it.

But a jury took a matter of hours to unanimously find him guilty.

Judge Andrew Jefferies QC said: “You are 22 years of age. Up until your arrest for this matter you were of good character. In September, last year, you were seen by police in your car in the company of another man. When they were suspicious about what was going on between the two of you, you were taken to one side and searched.

“In your underpants police found 23 wraps of cocaine. They were jib parcels – a relatively new weight of cocaine, being slightly less than a gram. You were out that day intent on selling those drugs.

“I have little doubt a large part of the jury’s decision to find you guilty is because of your failure to comply with the police to allow them access to your telephone.”

Judge Jefferies QC criticised Hassan for only presenting the prosecution with his defence days before his trial was due to start and said that was an indication that he knew he was guilty.

Defending, Rukshanda Hussain asked Judge Jefferies QC to show as much leniency to her client as possible, given his age and the fact he had no previous convictions.

Hassan held his head in his hands as he was jailed for three years and nine months. He will face a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Preston Crown Court on January 22.