Heroin dealer who smoked himself out

A DRUG dealer was caught with a £56,000 haul of heroin and tablets after stopping at a shopping centre to smoke some of his stash, a court heard.

Christopher Kinghorn, 40, was arrested in a taxi yards from Dundee’s police HQ after setting off fire alarms in the mall’s toilets.

When the alarms went off at the Overgate Centre, he got into a taxi with more than half a kilogram of the Class A drug on him.

He also had more than a kilo of amphetamine and 16,000 banned anti-anxiety etizolam tablets stashed in a rucksack and supermarket carrier bag, Dundee Sheriff Court heard yesterday.

Police arrested him after he was caught on CCTV.

Fiscal depute Sue Ruta told the court Kinghorn ‘had been setting off fire alarms by burning drugs in the toilets’, adding: ‘He was found in a stationary taxi nearby.’

She said: ‘He was in possession of a rucksack and [carrier] bag and was searched.

‘A number of bags containing drugs were found. That included 697.49 grams of diamorphine, valued at £27,890. There were 1,252g of amphetamine with a potential value of £12,520 and he had 16,173 etizolam tablets with a value of £16,173.

‘The accused also had £1,432 in his possession.’

Kinghorn, 40, a prisoner at HMP Perth, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin, amphetamine and etizolam on March 23. He also admitted possessing a knife on the same date.

Defence solicitor John Boyle said: ‘He had run up a significant drug debt in excess of £1,000.

‘Certain individuals had asked him to move these bags of drugs along with the cash from one address to another.

‘He stopped to smoke some of the heroin, drawing police attention to him. This would have made inroads into his debt.’

Sheriff Alastair Brown deferred sentence until next month for reports and remanded Kinghorn in custody.