An organised crime gang were being monitored by an undercover surveillance unit in Perth when they hid £5,000 cash in a Tupperware box down a waterside rabbit-hole.
The Liverpool-based gang were also seen handing over a bag stuffed with more than £33,000 during their county lines drug dealing operation in Scotland.
Three members of the gang have been jailed for nearly six years after they admitted their bid to flood Perthshire with more than £65,000 worth of heroin.
Blayne Gray and Max Donovan from Liverpool and Perth man George Crone were watched as they carried out their illicit operation.
Rabbit-hole hiding place
Fiscal depute Michael Sweeney told Perth Sheriff Court: “Police received intelligence that Max Donovan was part of a Liverpool-based organised crime group and was concerned in the supply of drugs.
“A surveillance operation was set up and he was seen on a pathway in Perth, walking back and forth changing direction.
“He was then seen exiting some bushes.
“Police later attended the pathway by the Lade and carried out a search.
“From within a rabbit-hole a Tupperware box was recovered and found to contain £5,000 in cash.
“A forensic examination was carried out and Donovan’s DNA was found on the elastic band used to bind the cash together.”
Police dog finds buried cash
The surveillance operation continued and around a month later Blayne Gray was observed walking into a wooded area near Inveralmond industrial estate on the outskirts of Perth.
“He opened his rucksack and got a pair of binoculars out to scan the area.
“He was then seen to exit the area, still carrying the rucksack, which he placed in a vehicle.
“Drug detection dog Gordy attended the area and found Tupperware containers buried in the ground.
“Both contained controlled drugs. A tub contained cash.”
Detectives continued monitoring gang members and saw Gray making an “animated” phone call after returning to the area and discovering the drugs and £7,000 cash had gone.
The call was subsequently found to have been to Donovan.
Gray tried to run off when he was approached by officers but he was apprehended and found to be carrying almost £3,000 cash.
Cash handover
Some time later Donovan returned to Perth and was seen to be driven to a handover by local man George Crone.
It later emerged a bag containing £33,440 cash was switched.
Mr Sweeney said a doorstep exchange between Donovan and Crone was intercepted and they were found with almost two kilos of heroin with a street value of £65,000.
The gang’s fingerprints and DNA were found on the cash and drugs and the total amount of money recovered from the trio was £48,483.
Gray – ‘ideal candidate’ for gang
Gray, 23, Culme Road, Liverpool, admitted supplying heroin in a wooded area on the outskirts of Perth on March 19 and 20, 2020.
Solicitor Paul Ralph, said it was “a depressingly familiar story” of a young man running up a drug debt and being used as a courier to pay it off.
He said Gray was seen as an ideal candidate by the gang as he had not been in trouble previously.
“He comes up here, comes under surveillance, and then the next significant part of his life is ruined,” Mr Ralph told the court.
Crone – the delivery driver
Crone, 36, Newhouse Road, Perth, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin in Perth between September 10 and 23 2020.
Solicitor Linda Clark, said he had previously been “involved in the heroin scene” but had cleaned himself up and attended a college course.
However, she said he could not find work during lockdown and, with time on his hands, became involved again – essentially as a driver for the gang.
“His record does not speak of someone who is a big-time drug dealer.
“He is ferrying others backwards and forwards. He is in the chain.”
Donovan – debt clearer
Donovan, 25, Cottesbrook Road, Liverpool, admitted supplying heroin at locations in Perth between February 18 and September 23 2020.
He also admitted concealing criminal property.
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton, said he had agreed to get involved in the county lines operation in a bid to try and clear his own drug debts.
Police pledge
Sheriff Euan Duthie jailed Donovan for two years, Crone for 23 months, and Gray for 18 months.
Detective Inspector Julia Ogilvie, of the Police Scotland Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit, said : “One of our key priorities is to tackle serious and organised crime and those involved in the supply of drugs onto our streets in Scotland will not profit from this.
“Drug supply causes so much misery in our communities and we remain committed to identifying county line activity in our local communities.
“We need the public to keep passing on information so we can disrupt these criminals.”
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