A DRUGS trafficker has been jailed after he tried to flee the wrong way down the M606 at Bradford when armed police officers did a ‘hard stop’ on the car in front of him.

Mikael Kanaci was ferrying a kilo of skunk cannabis worth more than £12,000, and equipment for a drugs farm, when he panicked in his Volkswagen Caddy after getting caught up in the incident at 11pm on May 5.

The Albanian national was transporting the bag of cannabis, hosing, fans, fertiliser and a baseball bat behind the front seat ‘for good measure,’ Judge Colin Burn said today.

Prosecutor Philip Adams told Bradford Crown Court that Kanaci, 27, of Arkendale Mews, Great Horton, Bradford, had pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply and dangerous driving.

He was sentenced on a video link to HMP Leeds where he was remanded since the incident.

Mr Adams said that coincidentally the Armed Tactical Unit did the ‘hard stop’ on a car travelling along the slip road in front of the defendant. He tried to get away from the scene by reversing but the van hit a vehicle.

Kanaci then attempted to do a three-point turn to escape along the wrong side of the motorway but he was spotted by the police and his path was blocked.

He was apprehended with a kilo of skunk, the bat and drugs paraphernalia on board the van.

The court heard that the wholesale value of the drug was £5,000 but that went up to £12,300 if it was sold in street deals.

Kanaci made no comment when interviewed by the police.

Mr Adams said that as far as the Crown was concerned, he had no previous convictions.

In mitigation, it was stated that Kanaci had been in the United Kingdom for up to four years and had always attempted to work when he could do so.

“He accepts having an inkling that what he was transporting was something illegal but he didn’t know what it was,” the court was told.

Judge Burn said that the equipment seized from the van, with a baseball bat ‘for good measure,’ pointed to an operational role in the drugs ring.

Kanaci had tried to turn down the wrong side of the carriageway to escape.

“There could then have been horrendous consequences for completely innocent people driving on the motorway,” Judge Burn said.

Kanaci was jailed for a total of nine months and banned from driving for 16 and a half months and until he passes an extended retest.

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