A drug dealer found with £5,000 of heroin in his dashboard complained about how much the police were charging to look after his confiscated car.
Desmond Marr also moaned about Police Scotland’s estimated value of his drug haul and boasted that he was under-cutting them by 50%.
Marr accused the police of “being stuck in the 1980s” because he was selling heroin for half the price it used to be as he was jailed for 27 months at Perth Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
The court was told that a police sniffer dog had discovered a large consignment of class A drugs during a search of Marr’s Toyota Avensis.
The car was forfeited and unemployed Marr said he would be unable to get it back because the cost to release it from the pound was more than the vehicle was worth.
Marr, 44, a prisoner at Perth, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin on the M90 Perth to Edinburgh road and in Dundee on December 4.
Solicitor Jim Laverty, defending, said: “The police impounded his vehicle and didn’t advise him of its whereabouts. The custody costs of that exceed the value of the vehicle. He would take issue with the Police Scotland basis of around £100 per gram. Maybe they don’t wish to do any other calculation.
“The Police Service of Scotland still hang on to the price of the 1980s in my view. My experience from Dundee is that there is now 0.2 grams in a tenner bag.”
Mr Laverty told the court the value of Marr’s stash could have been as low as £2,756 and that his client was transporting it to pay off his own drug debts.