(Image: North Yorkshire Police)
A Bradford drug dealer involved in a county lines operation supplying heroin and crack cocaine has been jailed.
Haqeem Hussain, 28, of Hunters Park Avenue in Clayton, was sentenced at York Crown Court on Monday after admitting supplying Class A drugs.
Police said Hussain was linked to a county lines network known as the "AX Line", which was bringing drugs from West Yorkshire into North Yorkshire.
Police Constable Damion Liversidge, of North Yorkshire Police's Operation Sentry Serious Organised Crime Team, said: "Hussain believed he could travel into North Yorkshire undetected and profit from bringing drugs into our communities.
Bodycam photos of Haqeem Hussain's arrest. (Image: North Yorkshire Police)
"Thanks to the proactive work of our officers, he was identified, arrested and brought before the courts. I welcome the sentence imposed."
What is county lines?
Officers from Operation Sentry, the force's team dedicated to tackling serious and organised crime, received intelligence linking Hussain to the drugs line and later arrested him.
A search of his Bradford home uncovered a quantity of drugs prepared for street-level supply.
Officers said they were found alongside a phone linked to the AX Line.
County lines is the term used for drug dealing operations in which organised criminal groups use dedicated phone lines to move and supply drugs, typically from cities into smaller towns and rural communities.
Bodycam photos of Haqeem Hussain's arrest. (Image: North Yorkshire Police)
Investigators gathered evidence linking Hussain to the operation and a series of journeys from West Yorkshire into North Yorkshire while drugs were being supplied through the network.
A drugs expert later concluded that messages sent through the AX Line related to the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.
The court case
Hussain was charged with being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs between March 2026 and his arrest.
Bodycam photos of Haqeem Hussain's arrest. (Image: North Yorkshire Police)
He later pleaded guilty.
At York Crown Court, he was sentenced to three years and six months in prison and ordered to pay a £228 victim surcharge.
PC Liversidge added: "Operation Sentry will continue to take a robust and proactive approach to disrupting and dismantling county lines drug networks.
"We would urge anyone with information about drug-related activity in their area to come forward and share it with us so we can take action against those responsible."
Since launching in September 2024, Operation Sentry has dismantled 23 county lines networks, with 32 offenders receiving a combined 821 months in prison.