A MAN who was found with up to £100,000-worth of cocaine in his car has walked free from court after his brother said the stash was his.

A jury at the Old Bailey found Abdul Monior, 35, not guilty of possession with intent to supply after hearing that his brother Ala Miah, 24, had pleaded guilty to the same charge. Miah, who shared a flat with his brother in Dellfield, St Albans, was given a five-year sentence.

When police raided the flat on September 9 last year, Mr Monior was found to have £4,000 in the pocket of his shorts and officers discovered 766g of cocaine in the boot of his Honda, which was parked outside. The drugs were hidden in a cool bag and divided into hundreds of wraps ready for sale.

Mr Monior initially denied that the car belonged to him but checks later revealed that it did, and his fingerprints were found on the bags containing the cocaine wraps. But Miah, who was also arrested at the flat, told police as they led him away that the drugs were his and nothing to do with his brother.

At Mr Monior's trial, prosecutor Janette Hayne told the court the defendant was upstairs asleep when police raided the flat early in the morning.

At Miah's sentencing, which took place at the Old Bailey last week, the court heard the drugs had a "substantial" street value. Ms Hayne said: "A true valuation will have to be obtained but in its present form, as it was found, it is worth in the region of £50,000.

"Were it cut further, it could be worth more."

Jailing Miah, Judge Timothy Pontius QC said: "It is clear you were playing a vital and important role in the supply of a significant quantity of cocaine.

"You were involved in the wrapping and bagging of drugs for sale and that exercise had been completed when the police intervened."

Miah, a cocaine addict since his teens, has several convictions and was jailed at the age of 16 for a knife attack.

In mitigation, he said he was not out to make a large amount of money but had been drawn into selling the drugs to settle a debt he owed to a dealer.

He will serve half his sentence in prison before being released on licence.