Three men have been convicted of taking part in a heroin and crack cocaine supply operation in Accrington.

Amar Ahmed, John Nicholson and Paul Freeman were caught after being spotted driving around Accrington by police.

Burnley Crown Court heard they drove off ‘ignoring efforts by police for them to stop’ and ‘pulled out into a junction without stopping’.

Sara Dodd, prosecuting, said passenger Freeman got out of the car but was seen hiding behind another car on Higher Antley Street.

The police were unable to chase after him but he was later found again on Richmond Hill Street.

Miss Dodd said officers also found Ahmed in the car with the engine still running and driver Nicholson was ‘seen emerging from a nearby house’.

Inside the car they seized a number of items including an ‘improvised pipe’, cash and mobile phones from the glove box and central compartment.

Miss Dodd said Freeman ‘began to cry’ when officers found him with a snap seal bag of drugs in one hand and a mobile phone in the other.

She told the court how he claimed they ‘didn’t belong to him and had been thrown at him’.

Miss Dodd said police also recovered a snap bag of cannabis, Samsung phone, Kinder Egg and two cannabis grinders.

When Freeman was further searched at the police station they found £818 worth of cocaine and another £220 of heroin.

Amar Ahmed, 25, of Higher Antley Street, Accrington, and Paul Freeman, 22, of Laithe Street, Burnley, both pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin and possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.

Ahmed was remanded into custody until a sentencing hearing on September 5.

However, Judge Beverley Lunt warned him: “It’s going to be a custodial sentence, you know that and you are serving it now which is how you should look upon it.”

John Nicholson, 31, of Edleston Street, Accrington pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin and careless driving.

He was given a 12-month community order with drug and rehabilitation activity requirements after serving over six months on remand.

Freeman was jailed for 30 months.

Amar Ahmed played a ‘significant role’ in the operation, the court heard.

Robert Kearney, defending Ahmed, said: “This was a street dealing defendant but slightly higher than some of the others in a significant role.

This is a defendant who has some learning difficulties.”

James Heyworth, defending fathero-of-two Nicholson, said it has been a ‘salutary lesson for him’. He told the court: “He was the driver on one day and the other two dealt heroin and cocaine.

“He’s spent six-and-a-half months on remand in custody which is the equivalent of a 13 month jail sentence.”

The court heard how Nicholson started misusing drugs after he became redundant and his relationship ended and he is ‘truly remorseful and contrite’.

Philip Holden, defending Freeman, said the father-of-one had only been dealing for ‘a matter of days on the streets’ after pressure had been put on him by a drug dealer to repay a drug debt.

He told the court how Ahmed was in charge of the operation and he was ‘the custodian of the drugs’. Mr Holden said he has now ‘rid himself of drugs’ while in custody.