THE former owner of a York restaurant has denied knowing anything about drugs worth more than £18,000 found in his cars and house.

Syed Juhel Miah, 48, who used to own the Mogul curry house in Tanner Row claimed his "best friend" Roy Ernest Colsell, 64, had the key to a hired Toyota parked in Kingsland Terrace on May 26, 2013, had invited a friend to come to Miah's orange Toyota when it was parked in Piccadilly the same day and had access to the loft of the house where both lived in Tennant Road, Acomb.

The jury at York Crown Court has heard police found cannabis, cocaine and Ecstasy in the house and both cars, as well as in a third Toyota Miah was driving when they stopped it on Askham Lane last May. Miah owned or had hired all the cars. Both men were in the orange Toyota in Piccadilly.

Asked about the drugs at each location, Miah said in evidence he had not known they were there or how they got there.

Miah, and Colsell both deny six charges of possessing drugs in May 2013 with intent to supply them and Miah denies a charge of possessing cannabis with intent to supply this year.

Miah claimed he had known Colsell for 12 to 14 years starting when he worked at the Mogul restaurant and that he had invited him to come and live with his and his family after the older man had accidentally burnt it down with a discarded cigarette.

"We are the best of friends, real friends. He still loves me, I still love him as a friend," he claimed. He said Colsell still lives with him.

He alleged a man had visited Colsell at their home in Tennant Road and that he didn't want to know anything about the visitor.

He denied suggestions from Colsell's barrister Eleanor Fry that he controlled Colsell and had got him to write a letter in which Colsell accepted responsibility for all the drugs.

Miah alleged that the hundreds of pounds found in the Toyota this year were his savings and that he had been saving up for a £4,500 or £5,500 air ticket to visit his country Bangladesh.

He denied being a drug dealer.

The trial continues.