A pair of Royal Marine commandos have admitted being involved in a £300,000 drugs operation.
Grant Broadfoot, 29, and Stuart Bryant, 31, were caught using an Ministry of Defence-owned van to transport cannabis from England to Scotland on June 3, 2020.
The pair, with 30 vacuum sealed bags, were snared by police in Glasgow’s Mount Vernon following “reliable and credible intelligence.”
Broadfoot also took advantage of his role as an ammunitions storeman to sell ammunition from HM Faslane naval base to potential buyers using encrypted mobile phone chats.
He boasted he could use his position to source ammunition and arrange transport using vehicles owned by the MOD.
Broadfoot’s accommodation at Faslane was raided and ammunition was recovered from a Tesco bag.
Broadfoot pled guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to being involved in serious organised crime, which included offering to supply of cannabis as well as the sale and supply of ammunition.
Bryant, of Galston, East Ayrshire, admitted producing cannabis and being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
The crimes took place between November 2019 and June 2020.
Grant Broadfoot’s father, Ian Broadfoot, 62, pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
‘Operation Final’
The court heard the younger Broadfoot was snared in “Operation Final”, which was an investigation into him.
The Transit van he drove and a Renault van driven by Bryant stopped beside each other in the city and police watched as a black holdall was handed between them.
They were stopped and the drugs, worth around £114,000, were recovered from both vehicles.
Grant Broadfoot’s then-home in the city’s Baillieston was raided and £27,370 of cash was found in a brown box.
A search of his father’s property in Mount Vernon uncovered £21,030 in mixed notes, a vacuum sealer machine and a bag of cannabis – 182 grammes worth around £1000 – as well as other drug paraphernalia in his garage.
Bryant told officers he was told to pick up “unknown” items near an MOD training camp in Merseyside in exchange for money.
He stated he was “suffering significant financial difficulty” and Grant Broadfoot offered him cash to carry out the task.
Prosecutor John McElroy said: “The maximum financial community impact if all cannabis recovered was divided into street deals has the potential to realise approximately £301,820.”
Ammunition sales
Grant Broadfoot’s accommodation at Faslane was searched and a Tesco bag containing live ammunition was recovered.
It was revealed he conducted operations using encrypted mobile chats with the username ‘Veteranpants’.
Examples of the conversations from March to June 2020 were read to the court.
This included organising money drops and drivers – including Bryant – who was unable to perform a job on one occasion due to contracting coronavirus.
Mr McElroy said: “In April 2020 Grant appears to be offering to supply ammunition.
“The significance being that he had access to ammunition at Faslane Naval base due to his position as an ammunitions storeman.”
The accused was quoted as telling a potential buyer: “Put the feelers out and if you get a bite I’ll get them, I’m in control of the ammunition.
“It’s just me and a couple of other boys here though, I’d need to file the batch number off each round.”
He was also noted as telling another contact: “I can sort you out with ammo… I’ve got contacts available.
“I’ve got 7.62 machine gun rounds, 5.56 semi-automatic rounds and 9mm Glock rounds.”
In May 2020, Broadfoot told a contact, “I have Ministry of Defence vans” and said he “signs them out” when he needs them as they have shooting ranges in Liverpool.
He was also seen to arrange the collection of drugs “using MOD transport” in June 2020.
Bryant’s conversations also revealed he had “a much bigger role in transporting drugs” and was compared to Pablo Escobar by the contact.
Sentence deferred
Louise Arrol, defending first offender Bryant, said: “He was in the Royal Navy for a number of years and has impressive references.
“He recognises, given the offences, he knows he will receive a custodial sentence.”
Allan Macleod, defending first offender Ian Broadfoot, said: “It is accepted that he was not involved in the exchanging going on – he just happened to be there.”
Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by judge Lady Stacey.
Grant Broadfoot, of the city’s Tollcross, and Bryant were remanded in custody while Ian Broadfoot was bailed.
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