Sydney - Australian journalist Peter Lloyd was jailed for 10 months Tuesday after pleading guilty to drugs charges in a Singapore court, the national broadcaster ABC reported Tuesday.

Lloyd, 42, ABC's South Asia correspondent, was arrested in July for possession of 0.4 grams of methamphetamine, a drug commonly called ice.

Lloyd had agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of possession in return for the more serious charge of drug trafficking being dropped.

A drug trafficking conviction could have brought him a jail term of 20 years and 15 strokes of the cane.

Lloyd was in Singapore on leave from his post in New Delhi at the time of his arrest. (dpa)