Jailed drug mule to hand over £21k

A drug courier convicted alongside a Monklands accomplice after they were caught with millions of pounds of cocaine is to hand over more than £21,000 to settle a proceeds of crime action.

David Murdoch, 57, was jailed for 10 years in February after he and Graham Mcculloch, of Airdrie, were caught ferrying the haul of Class A drugs into Scotland.

Police stopped the duo’s convoy on the A74 in Dumfriesshire in May 2020 and found cocaine with a street value of almost £6 million in their vehicles.

Following his conviction, the Crown raised an action to seize crime profits from lorry driver Murdoch, formerly of Renfrewshire.

During a brief hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Weir was told that a settlement has now been reached in the case.

Under its terms it was agreed that Murdoch’s benefit from general criminal conduct was £21,248 and that a confiscation order should be made for the same amount.

Murdoch and Mcculloch had admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine between October 2019 and May last year at streets in London and Kent and at Ecclefechan.

Airdrie man Mcculloch was also jailed for 10 years for his role in the drug supply operation, and earlier agreed to hand over more than £246,000 in a separate proceeds of crime hearing.