Drug cash is seized … £36.13

Proceeds of crime case

A drug dealer who was caught with cocaine with a potential street value of more than £180,000 has agreed to hand over £36.13 to settle a confiscation action.

James Mcculloch (26) was jailed for four-and-ahalf years after admitting being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug.

The Crown raised proceedings to seize crime profits from Mcculloch following his conviction.

And after six earlier court appearances in the proceeds-of-crime action, a hearing to determine the case was scheduled to begin last Thursday (October 25).

But Mcculloch’s counsel, Mark Moir, told the High Court in Edinburgh that the hearing was no longer required. He said: “Settlement has been agreed between the parties.”

Mr Moir said that under the terms of the settlement, it was agreed that Mcculloch’s benefit from general criminal conduct was £40,000 and the realisable assets were £36.13.

The judge, Lady Clark of Calton, agreed to make a confiscation order for the latter sum.

Mcculloch was caught after police received an anonymous phone call expressing concern at the number of people coming and going from his home in Saffronhall Gardens, in Hamilton.

Officers attended at the address on November 15 in 2017 and found Mcculloch in a vehicle outside the house. He was cautioned and asked if he had drugs.

He initially said there were no drugs in the car but then reversed his position and said there was cocaine behind the driver’s seat.

Two bags containing more than 50 grams of the drug were found, with one batch being 77 per cent pure.

During a search of the house, almost one-and-a half-kilos of cocaine were recovered along with scales, plastic bowls and a sieve with trace amounts of the Class A drug and the cutting agent benzocaine used to bulk out cocaine.

The purity of the cocaine found ranged from six per cent to 79 per cent and police drug experts concluded that it had the potential to be worth up to £182,000 on the streets.

Refuse collector Mcculloch pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of the drug on a single day at his home and elsewhere.