Drug man is caught with trousers down
An Oban man has been fined £400 for drugs possession – after being caught escaping from police with his trousers down.
Craig Duffy, 25, of Room 1, Solas, Albany Street, Oban, pleaded not guilty to possessing a class C drug, etizolam, and obstructing two police officers, by running away and discarding a plastic bag of tablets.
Constables Paul MacMillan and Danny McBeth, while driving in an unmarked police car at the junction of Millpark Road and Soroba Road on June 30 last year, had observed three men ‘known for being involved in the local drugs scene’.
PC MacBeth told Oban Sheriff Court on Monday: ‘They were attempting to hide but were not doing a very good job of it.’
‘The three of them appeared to be crouching down,’ DC MacMillan said .‘ Craig Duffy had jeans around his knees. He had shorts on. I quickly jumped out and shouted they were being detained under the Misuse of Drugs Act. I saw Craig Duffy had a blue carrier bag.’
Two of the men then ran off in opposite directions, while one froze with his hands up, DC MacMillan explained, adding: ‘Craig Duffy started pulling up his jeans and sprinted across the road. Traffic had to stop.’
He said Duffy then flung the blue bag into the bushes. He added: ‘I could see what looked like hundreds of white tablets going into the hedge.
‘I quickly grabbed him. As we were walking back to the police vehicle his jeans were coming down. There was a plastic bag attached by a lace chord to his shorts. It was white tablets.’
Procurator fiscal Eoin McGinty said 180 white tablets were found in the undergrowth, and a further 10 in the bag tied to his shorts.
Summing up, Mr McGinty said: ‘These are people who are known to be drug users in Oban, in a huddle, and one with his trousers down.
‘They are looking round furtively. Two of them ran off in opposite directions.
‘The accused threw away a bag of 180 tablets. He had 10 more attached by a chord to his shorts. It is etizolam.’
Defending Duffy, solicitor Eamonn McGeehan said: ‘They were plain clothes officers.
‘They at no point identified themselves as police officers as they are obliged to do.’
However, Sheriff John Herald ruled: ‘I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever: guilty.’
The court heard Duffy was in custody and indicted for a trial in Dumbarton.
Sheriff Herald fined Duffy £400.