A man who helped British soldiers understand the language and culture of Afghanistan before they were posted overseas was jailed today for importing skunk cannabis.

Atal Qayoom, 25, was caught when he went to collect 3.18kg of the drug that had been sent from Holland to the Yodel depot in Borehamwood.

The drug had a wholesale value of between £9,000 and £12,000 with a street vale of around £31,000, prosecutor Samantha Cohen told St Albans crown court.

After his arrest in December 2013, text messages were sent to his phone that said: "Where the hell are you?", "Where are the drugs?", and "If you are trying anything you better think long and hard about it".

Qayoom, of Chiltern Gardens, Cricklewood, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cannabis. An iPad seized from his home revealed he had made two trips to Amsterdam in the previous month.

Defence barrister Srikanthanrajah Nereshraaj said Qayoom had come to the UK with his family when he was aged eight after the Taliban had taken control of Afghanistan.

While studying for a degree at Hertfordshire University, he was paid £80 a day to give language and cultural advice to soldiers at Thetford and Salisbury before they went on tour.

While carrying out the work he said he met other Afghanis and started smoking cannabis. He naively became involved in agreeing to allow cannabis to be sent to his home.

At the time of the offence, Mr Nereshraaj said Qayoom's work from the army had dried up as British troops were leaving Afghanistan. He was of previous good character and had been on Job Seekers' Allowance at the time but was now working as a stock controller.

Judge Stephen Warner jailed him for nine months, saying he was passing a lower sentence to reflect the mitigation, including the help he had given the army.

He said: "You allowed a significant quantity of cannabis to be delivered. It is a tragedy that you allowed yourself to become involved."