A businessman who denies involvement in a drugs conspiracy told a jury he traded in watches and contraband cigarettes.

Mohammed Rafiq Hussain said: “Controlled drugs? You must be mistaken,” when he was arrested, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Hussain, 49, of Church Walk, Northowram, said from the witness box: “I was gobsmacked when they said it was a drug-related matter.”

He is on trial with three men and a woman accused of plotting with others to supply cocaine and amphetamines between August 19, 2009, and May 26 last year.

His co-defendants are David Reed, 31, of Prince’s Crescent, Bolton, Bradford; Neil Foster, 58, of Athol Green, Ovenden, Halifax; Stanley Carnall, 59, of Prenton, Liverpool, and Linda Cockerham, 57, of Clare Street, Halifax.

Prosecutor Christopher Tehrani alleges Reed was a “trusted courier” in a cross-Pennine drugs ring, On November 16, 2009, he was caught on the M606 travelling from Liverpool to Bradford with £80,000-worth of cocaine.

Mr Tehrani says the drugs ring used a safe house at a flat at The Gatehaus, Leeds Road, Bradford.

Hussain told the court yesterday that police surveillance footage showed him meeting a man dealing in watches.

He said he wanted to sell them on for at least £200 each, but discovered they were fakes.

Hussain said he knew nothing about Reed and another man, Matthew Geddes, picking up drugs from Liverpool.

He asked Reed to swap a £1,000 gold and diamond bracelet he had bought from Carnall for his girlfriend for Christmas because it was too small.

Hussain told the jury he answered “no comment” when he was arrested by the police in May last year because he did not want to disclose his illegal cigarette trading.

Cross-examined by Mr Tehrani, Hussain said he had never had a bank account. He agreed he had changed his name and said he was also known as “Frank”.

He denied Mr Tehrani’s suggestion that he “wanted to live in the shadows”.

The trial continues.