A FORMER toy store worker was caught couriering nearly £30,000 worth of heroin across Newport.

Asjad Ali, 30, was paid just £100 by drug dealers to ferry his cargo across the city earlier this year.

The disqualified driver had borrowed his girlfriend’s car to deliver 728g of the class A drugs after he got a phone call “from an old acquaintance”.

Hannah Friedman, prosecuting, told Newport Crown Court how police followed Ali after they spotted him driving the vehicle with a cracked windscreen in the Rogerstone area.

The defendant abandoned the car on High Cross Drive and fled the scene before being arrested around a mile away after a dog handling team was called.

South Wales Argus:

He had left the drugs – which had a potential street value of between £19,840 and £29,640 – in the vehicle.

“One of the police officers told the defendant he recognised him from a toy store,” the prosecutor said.

“He said he no longer worked there and that’s why he was doing this.”

Ali, of Stamford Court, Newport pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to supply, possession of criminal property and driving while disqualified.

The offences took place on January 20.

Ben Waters, representing Ali, told the court: “The defendant was unaware of the amount of drugs and he was paid a modest sum of £100 to courier them from A to B.

“He’s a person unfamiliar with the use of drugs and became involved in this because of difficulties he was experiencing financially.”

Mr Waters added: “Members of his community have been astonished that he behaved in this way.

“This was very much out of character.

“He now appreciates the devastation and destruction that class A drugs have.

“The defendant has two young children who love him.

“This has hit him hard and been the biggest error of his life.”

The judge, Recorder Alun Eynon-Evans, told Ali: “If these drugs had not been not seized by the police they would undoubtedly have caused misery, maybe even death, on the streets of Newport.”

The defendant was jailed for 25 months and banned from driving for 12 months following his release from prison.