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, just before he was due to go on trial, to importing and trafficking the drug and to relapsing.

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

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

Investigations showed that for the previous two years he had been travelling regularly to the UK and meeting and obtaining drugs which he then imported into Malta. He then sold the drugs to his contacts in Malta. He had imported drugs about eight or nine times before his arrest.

Lawyer Veronique Dalli represented Mr Grech.