A would-be drug dealer tried to smuggle ecstasy tablets into T in the Park only to be told they were fake when he was snared by security.
Craig Hughes was caught with 258 tablets which bore a design commonly seen on the class A drug and he thought they were the genuine article.
However, Perth Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that the tablets were, in fact, dimethyltryptamine, which produces similar effects to ecstasy but can cause users to fall seriously ill with vomiting and seizures.
The 25-year-old had earlier pleaded guilty to attempting to be concerned in the supply of a substance he believed to be ecstasy at the entrance to the festival campsite at Balado on July 13 last year. He also admitted being in possession of another class A drug, cocaine.
Depute Carol Whyte said the tablets bore the Mitsubishi logo, which was appearing on ecstasy tablets at that time, and Hughes told police they were real.
She added: “A mobile phone was also recovered that contained text messages between the accused and his friends and related to the sale of these tablets.
“He was selling them more cheaply but I am advised that they can be sold for the same price as regular ecstasy and had a potential value of £2,580.”
She said that Hughes had seven grams of cocaine in his possession, which was deemed a personal amount worth £350.
Hughes’ solicitor urged Sheriff William Wood to be lenient as the mechanical fitter is also a carer for his mother.
The sheriff sentenced Hughes, of Wardie Road, Glasgow, to 300 hours of unpaid work and imposed a six-month restriction of liberty order, confining him to his home between the hours of 7pm and 6.30am each day.