A PENSIONER who tried to smuggle more than £100,000 worth of heroin through a North-East airport was jailed for eight years yesterday.

Mohammed Saddiq, 79, claimed he had been stopped by two gunmen in Pakistan as he prepared to fly back to the North-East, and told to carry the drugs to meet another man at Teesside Airport, near Darlington.

But Judge David Bryant told Saddiq yesterday that he did not believe his story.

The 79-year-old had previously served a ten-year jail term for possession of heroin, with intent to supply.

Saddiq, of Southfield Road, Middlesbrough, admitted smuggling heroin when he appeared before Teesside Crown Court.

Judge Bryant told Saddiq he would serve at least four years of an eight-year sentence.

Patrick Palmer, prosecuting for Customs and Excise, said Saddiq was stopped and questioned at Teesside Airport in March after getting off a flight from Amsterdam.

A blue holdall belonging to Saddiq was searched and was found to contain plastic bags with 1.874 kilogrammes of heroin. The bags were sewn inside two jackets. The drugs had a value of £123,500.

When interviewed, Saddiq claimed he had been stopped by two men as he left Pakistan bound for a flight to Amsterdam and then to Teesside. They had threatened him and put the jackets in his bag, but he said it did not cross his mind that drugs were involved.

Eric Elliott, for Saddiq, said he had gone to Pakistan to visit his mother's grave. On his return he was stopped by two men who put a gun to his body and threatened him that if he did not comply, he would be a dead man. The drugs did not get into circulation and Saddiq did not receive any money.

Saddiq underwent a triple heart bypass operation three years ago and then suffered a stroke, said Mr Elliott.