iStockA drugs courier caught with nearly £200,000 worth of cocaine has been jailed for two years.
Charles Dewar, 63, was stopped by officers driving back from Newcastle to Scotland and was found to have two kilos of the class A drug on October 28, 2020.
He had believed to have been collecting cannabis resin from Newcastle in a pre-arranged meeting.
Dewar pled guilty last month to being concerned in the supply of the class A drug at the M90 Edinburgh to Perth road at Glenfarg, at Newcastle and elsewhere.
At the High Court in Paisley on Friday, Judge Lord Arthurson said: “You acted as a courier in a Class A drug trafficking operation with two kilos of cocaine with a maximum value of £199,800.
“You are a first offender at age 63 and you have a supportive family.
“You played a small part in this type of offence.
“You had a lesser role in this operation and you thought you were transporting cannabis rather than class A drugs but you were still transporting drugs and it was considerable.”
An earlier hearing was told Dewar confessed to officers when caught that he was stopped by an unknown man he had never met on a street in Newcastle.
Prosecutor Craig Borthwick said: “This male opened the rear door of his vehicle and deposited a package under the rear seat.
“Dewar stated he is merely a mule, who acted under duress having a ‘gun to his head’, believing he was only collecting cannabis resin.”
Police had received intelligence that Dewar’s Ford Fusion Zetec car was being used to transport a large amount of cannabis to Perth.
Dewar was stopped on the A977 Kincardine to Kinross road by officers at Glenfarg, in Perth and Kinross.
A police drugs search dog drew attention to the rear seat and the cocaine was found beneath it.
The drugs were sealed up inside carrier bags.
A black plastic layer in the wrapping was labelled “TMT the money team” and the cocaine blocks were stamped “TMT”.
Expert drugs officers said the total potential street value for the haul of cocaine was £199,800.
Defence counsel Tony Lenehan told a previous hearing that Dewar, from Perth, had health problems and was subject to extensive medical investigations.
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