A heroin dealer claimed he was bullied into peddling the drug by an English “cuckooing” gang who moved into his home and turned it into a heroin distribution centre.
Martin Kyle, 49, said his DNA was found on the drug because he had moved it to clean the property at Ancrum Court in Dundee.
He told police that a group of drug dealers from Birmingham had moved into his home and he felt scared to resist because they were armed with weapons.
Sheriff George Way told Kyle the likely outcome of the case was “finely balanced” and he deferred sentence until later this month.
Raid on drugs hub
Kyle admitted being concerned in the supply of diamorphine from his home address on December 17 2020. Dundee Sheriff Court was told hundreds of pounds worth of the Class A drug was found.
Police received confidential information that the property was being used as an illicit drugs hub and an early morning raid was carried out by detectives.
There were four people in the property at the time and analysis of the drug packages found showed a direct DNA link to Kyle, who was the registered tenant at the property.
When interviewed, Kyle told police that a group of men had arrived at his home from Birmingham and had started using it to sell drugs around the city.
He said he had been told to run drugs for the gang because he had an unspecified debt of his own to pay off, and was fearful of reprisals if he refused to do so.
Kyle told the police that he was afraid of the gang because of the weapons they had and stories he had heard previously about the violence they had meted out to others.
Cuckooing refers to incidents where an external group target the home of a vulnerable local to use it as a centre for dealing drugs in an area away from their home patch.
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