An Ipswich man who claims he was kidnapped at gunpoint and subjected to a terrifying ordeal during which he was beaten, gagged and blindfolded by a group of men had previously refused to bring drugs into the country for one of them, a court has heard.

Giving evidence during the trial of four men accused of kidnapping him in June last year Aram Mohammidi said the man, who hasn’t been apprehended by the police, was a drug dealer.

“As far as I knew he was dealing with cocaine and he was sending people to Amsterdam to get powder,” said Mr Mohammidi.

He said the man, who lived in Ipswich, had asked him to work for him but he had refused.

On June 23 last year he was near Christchurch Park when the man told him to get into a car with him and two other men.

Mr Mohammidi told Ipswich Crown Court he had some reservations about getting in because of the earlier arguments about him not wanting to work for the man.

Once in the car Mr Mohammidi allegedly had a gun held at his side and he was taken to a flat in Walthamstow where seven men, some of whom were dressed in white, were waiting.

Mr Mohammidi was then allegedly kicked in the head and ribs and had a glove put in his mouth.

He was also allegedly blindfolded with a T-shirt and his arms and legs were tied up.

He also allegedly had acid poured in his eyes and heard someone ask for a hammer before feeling blows to his fingers.

He said he was eventually put into a black bag before being taken in a van to Harlow where he was found shirtless and dazed in a car park.

He had two black eyes, bruising all over his body, burn marks on his legs and arms, the fingers on one hand were deformed as if they had been broken or crushed and his wrists had red marks as if he had been tied up.

Before the court are Joao Bernardo, 28, of Woodbridge Road, Ipswich; Joao Rito, 23, of Windsor Road, Ipswich; Abubakar Sheikh, 32, of Buttsbury Road, Ilford and Samuel Nunes-Mercachita, 34, of Canvey Island.

Nunes-Mercachita, Rito and Bernardo have denied kidnap.

Sheikh has denied conspiring to kidnap, false imprisonment and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The trial continues.