A TEENAGER from Brierfield who hid heroin in his grandfather’s shed has been jailed for more than a year at Burnley Crown Court.

Nineteen-year-old Irslaan Nowkhaiz had been asked to ‘mind’ seven grams of the drug, divided up into five snap bags, the court was told.

But the youngster got into trouble when he was travelling in a car which was pulled over by police, who suspected one of his friends may have been carrying drugs.

Sarah Pritchard, prosecuting, said the friend was detained but police found nothing suspicious on Nowkhaiz. But they later searched his grandparents’ home in Mansfield Crescent, where he had been living.

And in his grandfather’s shed the officers discovered small bags of brown power, which turned out to be heroin, hidden in a toolbox.

“The grandfather of the defendant indicated he didn’t know anything about the drugs and that only himself, his wife and his grandson would have had access to the shed,” she added.

The grandfather thought that the defendant used to use the shed to smoke cannabis but had no idea he was involved in heroin, the court heard.

Interviewed by police, the teenager insisted he had been holding the drugs for someone else.

The explanation was considered acceptable by Crown Prosecution Service lawyers after the case was reviewed, the court heard.

Nowkhaiz, who only had previous convictions for public order offences and fraud by false representation, admitted possession of heroin with intent to supply and was jailed for 13 months by Judge Simon Newell.

The estimated street value of the drugs was said to be around £2,500, the court was told.

Nadim Ahmed, defending, said: “The defendant’s case is that he was asked to mind the drugs for a short while, which he did.”

Nowkhaiz had become ‘emotionally troubled’ after his mother celebrated her second marriage and brought a new man into his life, he added.

The defendant’s answer, after moving in with his grandparents, had been to start using drugs, which had led him to associating with people who were far more sophisticated than him within the drugs culture, the court heard.