Drugs gang jailed for 24 years

SIX men caught by a major police operation which netted hard drugs with a street value of more than £200,000 were jailed for a total of almost 24 years today.

The brother of a pub shooting victim, two ex-soldiers and a would-be professional footballer were among those given sentences ranging from seven and a half years to two and a half years.

Two other men also caught by "Operation Venom" have already been dealt with.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The High Court in Edinburgh heard today how Shaun McKinnon, 23, tried to take over the family roofing business after boxing champ Alex McKinnon, 32, was blasted to death in the Marmion Bar in Gracemount, Edinburgh, in April 2006.

Debts and difficulties due to the recession led him to become involved in drug trafficking, said solicitor advocate Vincent Belmonte, defending.

At an earlier hearing the six had admitted, between them, a total of five charges of being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine between February and May last year.

Advocate depute Graeme Jessop, prosecuting, described how, on 18 February last year, undercover officers had tailed a car from Edinburgh to the Manchester area where the vehicle was joined by a Volkswagen Golf on the M6 motorway and the convoy moved on to a McDonald's where a red carrier bag was handed over.

A raid on a house in Rosewell, Midlothian, seized cocaine worth a possible 100,860. Police also found a metal press there and other equipment for turning cocaine into blocks.

"This sort of operation does not happen at street dealing level," said Mr Jessop.

More heroin was seized when detectives stopped a red Ford Fiesta in Edinburgh on 26 May last year. During the search, two small bags were thrown out of the car window.

Two men in the car, Nicholas Brown, 27, and Jamie Sweeney, 24, insisted they had been out to play golf.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Officers also surrounded a petrol station in Old Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, on 29 May last year, when Paul Ward, 29, was detained, along with two other men.

Former soldier Ward, of Lochend Road, Newbridge, was jailed for seven and a half years. The court heard that when caught with heroin worth a possible 47,550 on the street he was on licence after early release from a six year sentence for an earlier drug trafficking offence.

Defence QC Paul McBride said Ward had struggled since leaving the Army at the age of 22 and got into financial difficulties.

Ward also admitted helping to re-package cocaine at the house in Rosewell.

McKinnon, of Castlebrae Glebe, Edinburgh, was jailed for four and a half years for the same heroin charge as Ward. He also faces future proceeding to strip him of drug-dealing profits.

Kevin Jones, 43, of Little France House, Upper Craigour, Edinburgh, was jailed for three years for acting as a courier. He was paid 400 to deliver eight packages of heroin, the court heard.

Foreman joiner Duncan McDonald, 29, of Ferniehill Drive, Edinburgh, was paid just 100 for his day's work which today earned him a sentence of three years and nine months because he was on bail at the time.

Sweeney, of Greenend Gardens, Edinburgh, was jailed for two and a half years for what defence advocate Susan Duff described as a ten minute car journey, acting as a drug courier.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mrs Duff told how Sweeney had hoped to be a footballer, until injury ended his hopes of a career.

The injury had altered the course of his life, she said, and Sweeney had begun drinking heavily.

Former soldier Brown, of Mansfield, East Calder, was also jailed for two and a half years. His own 30 a day heroin habit had left him in debt to suppliers said defence advocate David Nicholson.

Related topics: