A drug courier from Ayr who was caught ferrying a haul of 82 per cent pure cocaine worth £85,000 across Scotland has been jailed for the offence. 

Graeme Mclean, of The Loaning, Ayr, was caught receiving a passage from another drug courier at Silverburn shopping centre last May.

It’s believed the 26-year-old - who was given the drugs by Andrew Hogarth, of Milngavie, near Glasgow - was due to bring the drugs to Ayr via the M77 motorway, where he was stopped and taken in to custody by police.

Mclean and former accounting student Hogarth, 30, held their hands up over their doomed scheme at an earlier Paisley Sheriff Court hearing, pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs in breach of Section 4(3)(b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

At the time, Procurator Fiscal Depute Alan Parfery said they came to the attention of police after Hogarth,said to have a £200-a-day cocaine addiction was put under surveillance.

And, during the “intelligence-led operation”, he and Mclean were caught at a drugs handover at the shopping complex on May 31, 2016.

The prosecutor explained: “At 5.40pm the accused Hogarth was observed driving a white Renault in to Silverburn car park.

“There were text messages between the accused arranging to meet up at a particular section of the car park.

“The first accused [Mclean] arrived in a blue Land Rover, in the passenger seat.

“The Renault drove off and was followed by the Land Rover, they came to a stop close by.”

Mclean then left the Land Rover and collected a parcel from Hogarth before returning to the Land Rover and it leaving the car park.

The Land Rover was later stopped on the M77, near Newton Mearns, and, when the door was opened, the drugs fell out and on to the road.

Mr Parfery explained: “It was later found to contain cocaine - 500g of cocaine with a purity of 82%.

“The Statement of Opinion (STOP) Unit [of Police Scotland] later provided the opinion the cocaine could be subdivided further to yield 2.5kg of cocaine and, if subdivided in to what could be described as ‘street-level deals’ had a cash value of £85,000.

“That is an indication of onward sale and supply of the substance.”

Sentence was deferred for background reports and both men were remanded in custody before returning to the dock this week to learn their fate.

Defence lawyer Ian Sievwright said Mclean, of Ayr, knew he was facing a custodial sentence due to his previous convictions and the seriousness of the offence.

But he said the £85,000 price placed on the drugs his client was caught with was “a speculative value given the high purity.”

Solicitor Brian Lanaghan, representing Hogarth, of Milngavie, near Glasgow, had become involved as a drug courier because of the debt he’d racked up.

He explained: “In his video taped police interview he was asked if he had a drug habit and he confirmed he was abusing cocaine.

“When asked how much, he said, ‘as much as I can get’.

“In the run up to this offence he was using about 2g a day - that is £150 to £200.

“Your Lordship can see, very quickly, his debt was increasing and by that stage he was unemployed and foolishly he agreed to become involved in this.

“He is now drug-free for the first time in 10 years.”
The lawyer added that Hogarth had spent time in prison taking courses and planned to enroll in others, for jailed prisoners, once sentenced.

As he caged both Sheriff David Pender said: “Given the significant value of the drugs, in my view the appropriate sentence would be one of four years imprisonment, reduced to 32 months.”

The sentences were reduced because both men admitted their guilty and were backdated to February, when they were both remanded in custody.

Another man, 45-year-old Sydney Carson, of St Cuthberts Road, Maybole, walked free from court when his plea of not guilty was accepted.