The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Gang member told to pay just £1,980 of loot
Amember of a crime gang that brought £1 million worth of cannabis into north-east Scotland amassed more than £200,000 from his crimes.
Prosecutors say Justas Brazinskas, 26, made £204,140 from being involved in drug smuggling.
He was caught in Peterhead while a fellow gang member was stopped on the A90 at Stracathro with a car full of drugs.
But following a short hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Brazinksas agreed to hand over just £1,980 to Crown lawyers.
The Lithuanian citizen was taken to court by prosecutors using Proceeds of Crime legislation.
He was given a three-years-and-four-month prison sentence following proceedings at the High Court in Stirling earlier this year.
Yesterday, Brazinskas was given six months to hand over the sum.
His lawyers and prosecutors agreed it was all he had available at this point in time.
However, the Crown can return to court if it discovers that Brazinskas has any more assets available.
Brazinskas and his fellow countrymen, Romualdas Galdikas, Arturas Litkinas, and Tadas Jurjonas, were caught after a series of raids on addresses in Peterhead last year.
Galdikas, 43, was jailed for two years while 32-yearold Litkinas was sentenced to two years and eight months.
Jurjonas, 45, was given a 32-month term.
The court heard how the wholesale cost of the cannabis was about £300,000, but police said its street value would have exceeded £1 million.
The four, whose addresses were all given as Peterhead, appeared for sentence at the High Court in Stirling earlier this month.
They had pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow in February to being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
The court heard they had all come to the UK since 2020 with plans to work in the construction, fish processing and transport industries before becoming involved in cultivating and dealing cannabis.
Prosecutor Bill McVicar said the gang had been involved in “a large-scale, sophisticated and highvalued organised crime venture”.
He said: “It was operated by a group from Lithuania, who came to Peterhead to participate in cannabis cultivation and supply with a substantial street value.”
The four were soon identified as gang members by detectives and surveillance was carried out between January and March 2021.
Police in the town kept watch on a number of properties which had been converted into drug factories and used to produce “multi-kilogram” hauls of cannabis.
Officers from Police Scotland’s Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit conducted the raids.
Galdikas, Brazinskas and Jurjonas were all arrested at properties in the town, where drugs and cash were also seized.
The court heard Litinkas had 300 cannabis plants in his Vauxhall Insignia car when he was stopped on the A90 at Stracathro, Angus.
Police also found a notepad which appeared to have instructions on temperature for growing the drug.
Passing sentence, judge Lord Mulholland told the men that jail was the only sentence available to him.
He added: “You all came to this country and instead of working hard and taking advantage of the opportunities afforded to you, you engaged in criminal activity, growing and trafficking a controlled drug.
“This is a criminal offence in this country, as it is in your own, and you did this for profit.”