Man jailed after carrying drugs haul to Dundee

£400,000 worth of cocaine found in courier’s car

A 41-year-old Dundee man has been jailed for more than three years after he was caught transporting £400,000 worth of cocaine.

Ryan Stewart had been paid just £300 to carry the drug from Glasgow to Dundee.

He was arrested after police searched his car in the car park of a Dundee restaurant following a tip-off.

Stewart said he had recently been made redundant and the trip was a “one-off”.

Officers discovered a bag containing more than a 1kg of the drug when they searched his car.

Stewart admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine when he appeared at the High Court in Edinbirgh last month.

He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison when he appeared at Glasgow High Court yesterday.

Judge Lady Scott said: “I accept you acted as a courier on a one-off journey for payment of £300.

“I accept your participation was at a very low level and you have a history of stable employment. I’m persuaded that this is an isolated incident.”

Prosecutor Maryam Labaki said the cocaine has a purity of 80% and that if this was cut to the average purity level found in street cocaine, the drug would have a total value of £405, 684.

The High Court in Edinburgh had heard officers detained Stewart after seeing his vehicle on Dundee’s Kingsway West on March 7 2017. Officers searched the vehicle and found a red carrier bag under the driver’s seat which contained a “fractured block” of the class A drug.