BRADFORD police stopped a driver with a bald tyre and found 9.33 kilos of heroin in his car boot.

Officers on routine patrol on the M606 near the Chain Bar roundabout made the £466,000 drugs seizure while searching for the vehicle's spare wheel, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Security guard Samee Syed, 28, said he believed the heat-sealed bags of heroin, stashed in a blue IKEA carrier bag, was a wedding present.

Syed, a graduate in international business management, pleaded guilty to possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and was jailed for four years.

Prosecutor Emma Downing said he was stopped in a VW Polo at 8pm on June 4 transporting the drugs from Bradford to Bedford.

He was alone in the vehicle and heading for the M62.

The ten packages of heroin had a purity of between three and seven per cent.

Syed told arresting officers: "I was asked to bring it to Bedford for a friend. I don't know what it is. It is a wedding gift."

Miss Downing told the court: "He must have been a very trusted courier to have that amount of drugs in his possession."

But Syed's barrister, Sarah Barlow, said he was "extremely naive."

He was an Indian national who came to the UK on a student visa in 2009.

He returned to his homeland after graduating but came back to Britain and was unlawfully working in two jobs as a security guard when he agreed to transport the drugs.

Miss Barlow said Syed, of Ford End Road, Bedford, was sending most of his wages home to his family in India.

When people threatened to report him to the Home Office for working illegally in the UK, he agreed to courier the drugs to buy their silence.

"He was couriering in a car with a bald tyre that was likely to attract the attention of the police," Miss Barlow said.

Judge Peter Benson told Syed: "You had an operational role ferrying a substantial quantity of heroin from Bradford to Bedford."

After the case, Detective Inspector Ian Bryar, of Bradford District Police, said: "We welcome the conviction and sentencing of Syed today for his attempts to courier significant amounts of Class A drugs through our communities.

"Syed was stopped thanks to sharp-eyed work by our roads policing officers and their dedication has resulted in nearly £470,000 of heroin being taken off our streets.

"I would appeal to anyone who has knowledge or information about drug dealing in Bradford to contact police on 101 or CrimeStoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."