Court in the act - drug pusher guard jailed.

A COURT security guard was today behind bars himself after being caught plotting to smuggle drugs to prisoners attending trials in Birmingham.

Gulab Zaman was arrested following a police swoop on the cells at Birmingham Crown Court, where he worked, and his home.

Officers found capsules of drugs wrapped together in cling film in such a way that they could be easily hidden away to avoid detection.

Police are convinced the drugs, including diamorphine and cannabis, were intended for inmates being held in the court cells.

Zaman, 25, from Bordesley Green, was jailed for seven years on Monday after pleading guilty to four counts of possession with intent to supply drugs.

The cells beneath Birmingham's house people who have been transferred from prison, where they are on remand, each day to stand trial. Detectives from the Major Investigation Unit were called in, in October 2006, after police received a tip-off that drugs may have been getting into prisons via people attending Crown Court. Zaman was working for Reliance Court Security at the time. He was arrested and later charged with drugs offences.

Det Chief Insp Dave Scriven, said: "Information came in concerning the fact that drugs may have been getting into prison through prisoners attending Crown Court.

"An operation was done in conjunction with Reliance Security, the courts and Prison Service at Birmingham Crown Court.

"At Zaman's home address we found drugs packaged up in what looked like large suppositories wrapped in cling film."

Det Chief Insp Scriven said it was believed Zaman was passing the drugs to prisoners.