A police officer shouted “break his arm” to his colleague as they tried to restrain a man suspected of concealing drugs in his mouth moments before he died, an inquest heard today.

Habib Ullah, 39, was pulled over by Thames Valley Police officers during a stop and search in High Wycombe on Thursday, July 3, 2008.

Today was the beginning of the second inquest into Mr Ullah’s death – known to his friends and family as “Paps”.

During the inquest, Detective Constable Richard Bazeley, from High Wycombe Police Station, told the 11 jurors that he and his two colleagues had followed the car Mr Ullah was in from the M40 to Sharrow Vale, in High Wycombe.

DC Bazeley said there was intelligence suggesting Mr Ullah and one other occupant of the car were “involved in the supply of drugs”.

The three police officers called for the assistance of a marked police car and followed Mr Ullah and his companions to the Sharrow Vale car park.

A search of the car turned out a crow bar, Stanley knife, screw driver, spanner and burnt tin foil. An initial search of Mr Ullah did not showing anything “unusual”, said DC Bazeley.

Mr Ullah reportedly mumbled when officers addressed him. When asked what was wrong with his mouth, he replied that it was an abscess. Yet officers grew suspicious that he was hiding something.

DC Bazeley said: “I strongly suspected he had drugs in his mouth and was attempting to swallow them.”

Officers tried to restrain Mr Ullah. DC Bazeley said: “DC [Jason] Liles struck Mr Ullah in the back with some force and shouted 'spit it out'.”

DC Liles then proceeded to shout “break his arm” when DC Bazeley lost his grip on Mr Ullah, the inquest heard.

Officers used “distraction techniques” to prevent Mr Ullah’s arms going near his face. “Pain compliance” was also used in an attempt to make Mr Ullah open his mouth.

DC Bazeley proceeded to tell the court that the term “break his arm” referred to an arm lock technique.

After the struggle, Mr Ullah, who had reportedly smoked crack cocaine and heroin that day, went “limp”, the court was told.

DC Bazeley said: “I believed that he had swallowed the item in his mouth as it had not materialised.”

An ambulance was called and Mr Ullah was taken to hospital.

The inquest continues.