Incarcerated criminal smuggling heroin accepted blame (7,3,3)
I believe the answer is:
carried the can
'accepted blame' is the definition.
'incarcerated criminal smuggling heroin' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates anagramming the letters.
'smuggling' is an insertion indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'heroin' becomes 'h' ('H' can be a synonym of 'heroin').
'incarcerated' anagrammed gives 'carriedtecan'.
'carriedtecan' going around 'h' is 'CARRIED THE CAN'.
(Other definitions for carried the can that I've seen before include "Took responsibility for a misdeed or error" , "Took the blame" .)