Ex-gang member jailed for cocaine ‘trafficking’

A FORMER gang member who played “a significant role” in trafficking high purity cocaine with the potential to sell for £200,000 on the street in the Tayside area has been jailed for six years.

Jason Lindsay was the target for a police surveillance operation and chased down by officers after he fled from a car that was stopped on a dual carriageway.

Lord Woolman told Lindsay at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of almost four kilos of cocaine with a street value of just under £200,000.”

Lindsay faced a minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment for his third conviction of Class A drug trafficking but the judge told him he would reduce the sentence to six following his guilty plea.

Lord Woolman said he took into account the weight and value of the drugs, Lindsay’s criminal record, attempts to get rid of evidence and flee and “the significant role you played in the operation”.

Lindsay, 41, a father-of-four, has previously been convicted of 48 offences including violence, possession of offensive weapons and drugs charges.

He admitted that on various occasions between November 23 and December 14 last year, at Milton Street and Elders Court, both Dundee, Perth and Nottingham train stations, at Murrayburn Place, in Edinburgh and on the A90 road near Benvie, he was concerned in the supply of cocaine.

The offence was aggravated by a connection with serious organised crime.

Advocate depute Mark McGuire said that on November 23 surveillance officers watched Lindsay leave an address in Milton Street and take a taxi to Dundee railway station where he bought a return to Nottingham.

Mr McGuire said: “It is accepted the purpose of that meeting was for drugs to be handed over. The accused’s position is he did not personally conduct the handover, but rather arranged for one of his associates to perform the task.”

He said police had later followed a car from Edinburgh containing four men, with Lindsay in the front passenger seat, back north and two road traffic cars intercepted it on the A90. Lindsay climbed out the front passenger door and bolted, crossing both carriageways before being caught.