A DRUG dealer sold heroin and cocaine to an undercover police officer - then offered him a job as a driver.

Bolton Crown Court heard how Zeeshan Ahmed would recruit drug users to become street dealers, but unknowingly encountered police on Operation Maxima, a crackdown on drug crime in the town.

Ahmed, aged 29, of Manchester Road, Bolton, was described in court as a manager in a drug dealing network.

Andrew Macintosh, prosecuting, told how £30,000 was found by police in a raid on his home on March 14.

Then, on April 25, Ahmed was a passenger in a Vauxhall Vectra which crashed on Lock Lane, Lostock, following a police pursuit.

Police found a holdall in the passenger footwell containing £2,669 and a mobile phone with messages from people requesting drugs.

The court heard that, on seven separate occasions between May and August last year, Ahmed unwittingly sold drugs to undercover officers he met near the Subway shop in Manchester Road.

He trusted one of his undercover customers so much that he offered him £100 a day if he would work for him as a driver.

Ahmed pleaded guilty to 11 charges of supplying heroin or cocaine and two counts of concealing criminal property.

Ahmed Nadim, defending, said Ahmed, a father-of-two, came from a respectable family and had started dealing after becoming an addict himself.

He added that Ahmed was remorseful.

Judge Elliot Knopf jailed him for five years and nine months.