AN "idealistic" 19-year-old with designs on working in Somalia’s aviation industry has been spared a prison term after being caught with wraps of heroin in his underpants.

Fuze Munye, a student of Bridge Street, in High Wycombe, was confronted by police officers in Swindon on March 4.

A strip search at the police station led to the discovery of £220 in heroin, wrapped in a package the size of a ping pong ball in his boxer shorts.

Munye admitted to street dealing of drugs at Swindon Crown Court on Friday.

He said he was a courier in the supply chain into Swindon and put his involvement down to pressure exerted on him by a gang who issued threats to his family if he didn’t do their bidding.

Rob Ross, defending said Munye wanted to turn Somalia’s fortunes around by working in aviation.

It was a claim branded a “quantum leap of optimism in reality” for the defendant by Recorder Ian Lawrie QC.

He accepted Munye’s was a lesser role in the supply of heroin into the town and suspended a two-year prison sentence for two years.

“You didn’t appreciate it before, but you appreciate it now, you have had involvement in the supply of class-A drugs and you have been partaking in a process which brings misery and criminality to a wide range of society,” he said.

Munye faces 150 hours of unpaid work, a £100 contribution to costs and a undetermined victim surcharge.

“You weren’t engaging your brain, which is surprising given you’re an intelligent individual,” said Recorder Lawrie.