Four members of a drugs gang have been sentenced to a total of 25 years for bringing millions of pounds worth of heroin into the North East of Scotland.
Iain McDonald, 46, of Inverurie, was jailed for nine years and Stephen Madden, 50, of Newmachar, was jailed for six years and nine months. Paul Fox, 45, of Torquay, received five years and three months, and Alison Wilkie, 41, of Dundee, was jailed for three years and nine months.
Almost three kilos of heroin, with a maximum street value of £294,000, were found in a Land Rover Discovery hired by Fox to drive to Aberdeen. A further quantity of the Class A drug had been dropped off on the way north in Perth.
The four were arrested last October as a result of an intelligence-led operation, codenamed Hawk, led by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency alongside Grampian Police and Tayside Police.
Sentencing McDonald at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lady Dorrian said: “You were significantly involved in the large scale supply, sale and distribution of drugs between Liverpool and Grampian.”
She said that Madden was “involved in the supply of heroin on a day-to-day basis and clearly provided a link between McDonald and others lower in the chain of supply”.
Lady Dorrian said that she did not accept a defence contention that Fox was “a mere courier” in the drug trade. She pointed out that he had been described as “a trusted employee” in the English end of the operation.
During a surveillance operation the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency discovered that many of the gang’s customers were financially well able to afford drugs and many held down good jobs. Some were purchasing half an ounce of heroin for £450 for their own use every few days.
The Crown also began proceedings for confiscation orders, starting the process of stripping those convicted of any profits of their crime.
Source:the times
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