A DRUGS courier was caught as he took skunk cannabis valued at up to £7,000 from Leicester to Aberystwyth.

Police stopped the Lexus car because they believed the driver was using a mobile phone.

As he got his driving licence from the glove box a package fell which defendant Romel Ahmed, 24, the front-seat passenger, hurriedly tried to hide.

When told to hand it over, the officer immediately recognised it as skunk cannabis.

A further bag was found in the boot – a total weight of 770 grams with an estimated street value of £5,749 and £7,000.

Judge Niclas Parry said that he took a serious risk and now he had to face the consequences.

“Aberystwyth is a small town full of students who will take cannabis if it is available to them," the judge said. “You were bringing it from the middle of England so that you could make some money.”

He said that it would have harmed young people in Aberystwyth. That is why it had to be a prison sentence.

But he had pleaded guilty, would receive full credit in sentencing, he had not been in serious trouble before and he was a young man of good character. It would be far more constructive for the public for the sentence to be suspended, he said.

Ahmed, of Armadale Drive in Leicester, admitted possessing the class B drug with intent to supply, and received an eight-month prison sentence suspended for a year. He must carry out 180 hours unpaid work.

Prosecuting barrister Anna Price said that on 18 April police were carrying out traffic observations on the A483 and stopped a Lexus containing three men because they believed the driver was on the phone.

When a package was found in the glove compartment, the driver said that he also had a bag in the boot and that contained two further plastic bags containing skunk cannabis. He gave no comment in interview.

Defending barrister Paulinus Barnes said that he was a low risk of re-offending and had shown genuine remorse.

His basis of plea that he was simply a courier and no more had been accepted by the prosecution.

He appreciated that he had been very foolish. His family had come from Bangladesh, he lived with his mother and grandmother and he was their link to the outside world because they did not have fluent English.

“He is very distressed at the prospect of prison for this act of foolishness,” said Mr Barnes, who suggested a suspended sentence.