Police pledge to continue drug fight as dealer jailed

DETECTIVES today pledged that drug gangs in the Capital would continue to be pursued "vigorously" as police welcomed a ten-year jail sentence handed to one of the city's biggest dealers.

Mark Richardson was caught red-handed by officers as he prepared to flood the city with highly-addictive crack cocaine and was hit with the prison term on Friday.

The 23-year-old leader of an Inch-based gang was processing three-and-a-half kilos of the Class A drug worth 700,000 in a kitchen when police raided a flat in Ferniehill Road.

Police chiefs had made Richardson, who has been linked with several gangland shootings, a key target in their fight against city drugs gangs.

Detective Chief Superintendent Malcolm Graham, head of the force's CID, said: "We welcome this sentence, which is testament to the hard work of the police and prosecutors.

"This investigation has destroyed a serious organised crime group that was heavily involved in drugs, threats and violence, and which was blighting local communities with its actions.

"We have sent a clear message to anyone engaged in serious and organised criminality that they will be pursued vigorously by the police."

Richardson's gang was placed under a massive police surveillance operation lasting 18 months, which has so far brought 66 arrests and seizures of heroin, cocaine and crack worth 2 million.

It was the largest seizure of crack cocaine in the Lothian and Borders Police area, and one of the biggest recoveries of the Class A drug in Scotland.

A total of 14 gang members have already been convicted and sentenced to 44 years in jail, while court proceedings are ongoing with the rest.

But it was Richardson, named by police as the "criminal mind" behind the gang, and his propensity towards using violence which made him the principal target.

Richardson, who pleaded guilty to dealing cocaine between April 21 and December 9 last year, had also been facing charges of attacking Scotland midfielder Scott Brown in Grindlay Street last November and being present at a dog fight in Edinburgh in the same month. Both cases were deserted after witnesses against him failed to appear at court.

Richardson, of Cumnor Crescent in the Inch, had previously been sentenced to 32 months in 2006 for supplying cocaine.

Sentencing him at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday, Lord Kinclaven said Richardson would have faced a 13-year jail term but for his guilty plea.

As part of this investigation, 52,000 in cash and about 5m of property, vehicles and jewellery has been identified as under the control of the Inch gang, which will now be pursued for seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act.