A pair of drug dealers caught with £1.2m worth of cocaine during a police sting in Dundee have been jailed.
Richard Spalding was put under surveillance after police received a tip-off he was involved in the supply of drugs.
Officers watched as he parked his Vauxhall Corsa in Foggeyley Place and was joined by David Pringle minutes later, driving his own car.
They parked “boot-to-boot”, exchanged bags taken from their respective cars, then left separately.
Spalding was later detained by officers who discovered 10 kilos of cocaine.
Pringle was stopped by police on the A90 near Inchture with £120,900 in the bag he had received and a further two kilos of cocaine stashed under the driver’s seat.
The drugs had a potential street value of £1.2m.
Jailed after admissions
Spalding, 27, earlier admitted being involved in the supply of drugs between January and June last year while Pringle, 34, pled guilty to being involved in supply on June 9 2022.
Judge Lord Scott jailed both men at the High Court in Lanark.
Spalding, of Dundee, was handed four years and ten months while Pringle, of Whitburn, West Lothian, was given a four year term.
They were both told they would have been jailed for six years had they not pled guilty.
Naive, debt-laden dealer from Dundee
During the police investigation, text messages on a mobile phone belonging to Spalding confirmed he was involved in supplying drugs in the Dundee area.
On one occasion he received a message asking him to collect an unknown quantity of the drug and other messages confirmed he was storing cocaine on behalf of another.
The court heard how both men had run up debts which led to them becoming involved in the scheme.
Kris Gilmartin, defence advocate for father-of-one Spalding, said: “He was in debt which was not drug related but rather than speak to his family he decided to try and deal with it himself.
“He then made the truly awful decision to get involved in this.
“He acknowledges the use of illegal drugs ruins families and takes lives and is remorseful for his actions and takes full responsibility.
“He had no idea of the scale of the operation he was involved in and was paid £200 per transaction which maybe shows his naivety”
Cocaine habit led to involvement
Graeme Brown, defence advocate for father-of-two Pringle, said: “His mental health had been suffering and in the lead up to this offence, he began taking cocaine.
“He didn’t have the money to support such a habit and became involved in this to try and pay off debt.
“His arrest was enough to end his involvement with controlled drugs.”
Lord Scott told the first offenders: “The sum attributed to the 12 kilograms of cocaine is £1.2m and, even in terms of what this court is used to dealing with, that is an eye-catching amount.
“The recovery of the sum of £120,900 also helps inform the court of what must have been a significant drug operation even if your roles were at the lower end of the scale and indeed, limited in Mr Pringle’s case to to one single day.
“You have both previously shown that you can contribute positively to society and I hope that you are able to again when you are released from custody.
“Only a custodial sentence is appropriate and it is necessary to punish you and seek to deter you and others from behaving in this way.”
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