A man was jailed for eight years and fined €23,000 after he admitted to importing 90 grammes of heroin in his stomach four years ago.

Francis Grech, 48, from Valletta, pleaded guilty to importing and trafficking in the drug and to relapsing before Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano during what was meant to be the beginning of his trial by jury yesterday.

According to the bill of indictment, on the night between May 11 and 12, 2009, police stopped Mr Grech at the arrivals lounge of the airport after being tipped off that he was carrying drugs.

He was taken to Mater Dei Hospital where a scan found he had six heroin-filled capsules in his stomach. He was carrying 90 grammes of 48.8 per cent purity, worth over €4,000.

Investigations showed that for the previous two years he had been traveling regularly to the UK and meeting with a dark skinned man from whom he obtained drugs that he imported into Malta.

He then sold the drugs to his contacts in Malta. He had made the drug run about eight or nine times before his arrest, the bill said.

Lawyer Giannella Busuttil, from the Attorney General’s office, prosecuted while lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili represented Mr Grech.