A DEVOUT Muslim has lost his appeal against a nine-year jail term for his part in an extensive cocaine smuggling ring.

Nadim Qaiser Khan, of Hampden Road, Headstone, was jailed in January this year for possessing cocaine with intent to supply after being busted during a drug deal on the industrial estate in Southall where he worked.

Khan, a worker for 18 years with Interken Freighters Ltd, played a vital role in the drug deal involving 3.8 kilograms of the class A drug imported from America.

He was seen passing the parcel of drugs, with a street value of £189,000, to an accomplice, who passed it on to another man who then drove away.

Detectives had been covertly monitored the area and witnessed the handover before chasing after the driver.

They caught him and recovered the parcel of drugs, which had been thrown out of the window into a pond, and arrested Khan.

He was jailed at Isleworth Crown Court, but won the right to appeal both his conviction and sentence, which was lost today.

The 40-year-old was told by Judge Anthony Scott-Gall, sitting with Lord Justice Goldring and Mr Justice Griffith Williams at London's Appeal Court that they were rejected his lawyers' arguments that the trial judge should have thrown out the prosecution case due to insufficient evidence.

Judge Scott-Gall said the trial judge had been rightly satisfied there was a "case to answer", adding that there was a "very strong case to answer".

Also upholding his sentence, the judge acknowledged that Khan was not a "prime mover" in the conspiracy, but noted that he had still played a significant role in receiving the drugs.

Khan was described in court as a "devout Muslim" and presented 20 character references testifying to his good character, but the judge said he was "wholly unpersuaded" that his nine-year term was excessive.