A JAMAICAN man caught up in a raid claimed he had just been visiting his friend and had not been involved in selling hard drugs on the streets of Bolton.

Barrington Laguerre denied that his friend Kennard McKenzie had brought him to the town specifically to guard a stash of crack cocaine, heroin and cash kept in a bedsit.

He was arrested inside a flat in Bradford Street, The Haulgh, where police found £21,000-worth of heroin and crack cocaine and £7,000 in cash.

During the raid, police arrested Laguerre, aged 40, McKenzie, aged 32, and Raymond Minzie, aged 40, and a fourth man.

Laguerre said he knew McKenzie and Minzie from Jamaica and they had kept in touch when they were in the UK. He said he assumed McKenzie was dealing in drugs but said he had not become involved and had, in fact, tried to stop him. The three men all deny charges alleging conspiracy to supply drugs.

(Proceeding)