EX-COP JAILED IN DRUG STING
Brown was part of £2MILLION smuggling operation
A SHAMED former police inspector has been convicted for his part in a £2million drugs racket.
David Brown is behind bars after cops swooped as he tried to smuggle cocaine and cannabis on to a ferry.
A DISGRACED ex-police inspector is behind bars for his role in a huge drug smuggling operation.
David Brown, 51, was snared having been recruited by haulage firm boss Lawrence Phee, who ran the illegal racket.
Prosecutors revealed drugs were smuggled from Spain into Scotland inside machinery.
Police went on to seize cocaine, cannabis resin and herbal cannabis with a value of upwards of £2million.
Brown, once commended for his work with British Transport Police, claimed he had been duped into trafficking drugs after being stopped ready to board a ferry to Ireland in December 2018.
The crime can now be reported following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Brown and Patrick Hattie, 52 – an associate of Phee – were convicted yesterday of supply of the drugs at Cairnryan, Shotts, Coatbridge and elsewhere in Scotland between November 1 and December 1, 2018
Phee, of Airdrie, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years last year after he pled guilty to the same charges. Reporting of that had been banned until the end of this trial.
Brown, of Carfin, Lanarkshire, and Hattie, of Airdrie, were remanded in custody pending sentencing next month at the High Court in Livingston.
Brown was jailed in 2016 for fraud while a serving officer in the British Transport Police.
Judge Lord Summers told Brown and Hattie: “You have both been found guilty. I will continue this for background reports and you are both remanded in custody.”
A court hearing last year was told how Phee ran the racket from his base in Lanarkshire between November 1, 2017, and December 1, 2018.
Prosecutor Alan Cameron said: “The drugs were transported from Alicante region of Spain to the UK with industrial machinery.
“These were most commonly generators and compressors.
“The drugs were hidden and then transported in lorry trailers run by a variety of individuals and companies.The drivers of the vehicles and the operators of the transport companies were, at times, unaware of the presence of drugs.”
The court heard Phee organised 15 shipments to be made from Spain into the UK and sometimes on to the Republic of Ireland. This often involved contacting transport firms using an alias and a fake company name – such as Pat Kelly of Kelly Compressors.
Mr Cameron said the total quantity of the drugs smuggled was unknown. But two incidents gave an “insight” into the large scale operation.
In May 2018, Phee – known as Pat Kelly – and two associates met with a transport firm in Alicante.
A huge generator wrapped in clingfilm was then loaded on to a lorry. The drivers of the truck were later stopped by police in France.
A total of 126kg of herbal cannabis was found stashed inside the generator. The innocent drivers were held for two days before being freed.
The herbal cannabis had a value in Scotland of £504,000 and £750,000 in Ireland, if sold in kilogram deals.
But Mr Cameron said “maximum potential value would be greater” if the drugs were broken down further.
On December 1, 2018, a van driven by Brown was stopped by police at Cairnryan ferry port in Wigtownshire.
He claimed to be a courier who had collected a load from Kelly Compressors in Shotts, Lanarkshire.
One of the cops was suspicious about alterations made to a fuel tank that was being transported. Mr Cameron said: “It was three-quarters full of packages of controlled drugs.”
It emerged Phee tailed the van to Cairnryan, but was not linked to the seizure at that time. A total of 4kg of cocaine, 23kg of herbal cannabis and 5072 bars of cannabis resin were found.
The drugs were valued at £600,000 in Scotland – £1million in Ireland – but again would bring in more cash if split into smaller street deals.
Brown told jurors he’d been offered work at short notice of a trip to Ireland using a van hired by Kelly Compressors.
The vehicle was loaded by a relative of Phee at the yard in Shotts. Brown said: “I thought it was an oil tank, as described in the paperwork.”
He claimed to be “gutted” at being duped and that “as a former police officer” people may believe he was in some way “responsible”.
Hattie had also denied being involved in the drug dealing.