Mum and son drug dealers to lose £90k

A MOTHER and son team of heroin dealers who were caught with thousands of pounds of the drug in a police raid have been ordered to surrender more than £90,000 of their illegal profits.

Hazel Helvin was snared running a heroin dealing operation alongside her son, Levi McCaig, and the pair were each jailed for 12 months.

Officers also recovered a replica handgun and a list of police radio frequencies during a raid on their Currie home.

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Now Helvin and McCaig, who have since been released from prison, have been hit with confiscation orders to seize cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Lindsey Miller, head of the Crown Office’s serious and organised crime division, said the mother and son were involved in drug dealing at a “significant level”.

Their criminal operation was centred at the CCTV-monitored family home in Dolphin Avenue where Helvin, who turns 50 tomorrow, still lives.

Neighbours today said that police had carried out raids on the property as long as a decade ago, and had even asked to use residents’ homes to conduct their camera surveillance.

McCaig was stopped by police in Marionville Road, Restalrig, on November 5, 2008 and found to be carrying 22.1 grammes of heroin with a street value of £2300.

The 30-year-old was taken to St Leonards police station and £57 worth of cocaine and £150 in cash were also found in his possession.

Police then swooped on Helvin’s address, finding her in the passenger seat of a car. The vehicle was searched and £3630 in cash was found in the footwell, while 26.8g of heroin with a street value £2700 was lying on the driver’s seat.

She was taken to the police station where officers discovered a further 26.3g of heroin worth £2700 and cocaine worth £39 in her handbag.

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During a search of her house, drug paraphernalia was found, including cut bags, cling film, cut plastic gloves, scales, and a tick-list of customer’s debts.

A total of £87,020 cash was recovered from various locations in the house, as well as the replica gun and the list of radio frequencies.

On February 9 last year, Helvin and McCaig pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to being concerned in the supply of heroin, and were sentenced the following month.

McCaig, who now works at a shop in Juniper Green, has a Twitter account where he says at the top of the page, “im a fun lovin, etc crim heeee haaaaa”. He was contacted for comment yesterday but failed to respond.

A man who answered the door at Helvin’s home said she was “attending a function with her mum”.

A neighbour said: “The mother has lived there for at least 20 years and there’s always been problems. In the past, police have asked neighbours if they can use their homes to do surveillance.

“There was always coming and goings at the house, people going in for a few minutes then out again. There would be knocking at their door at 2am and they also had people trying to break-in. It was well-known they were selling drugs.

“There’s also been fights. Levi – whose real name was Danny before he changed it – was beaten up in the street once.”

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Under the confiscation orders, Helvin was forced to surrender the £90,650 she was caught with, while her son lost the £150 he was carrying at the time of his arrest.

Ms Miller said: “Hazel Helvin and Levi McCaig were involved in drug dealing at a significant level.”

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