£300k heroin haul result of police mission

A MAN transporting a haul of heroin worth nearly £300,000 on the streets was caught by police after they targeted an organised crime group, a court has heard.

Officers stopped Christopher Nicholson as he drove a car in Loanhead, Midlothian, after a surveillance team had earlier kept watch on a house.

During a search of the vehicle they removed a plastic casing from a wheel arch and found two packages of drugs, containing almost three kilos of heroin.

Mechanic Nicholson, 26, now of Alexandria, in Dunbartonshire, admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug on 30 October, 2008, when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Advocate depute Morag Jack said the case was part of the police's Operation Windmill to target an organised crime group responsible for Class A drug supply.

Ms Jack said "one of the main principals" of the operation was Nicholson's former co-accused Charles McAllister, 40, of Old Burdiehouse Road, Edinburgh, who is now deceased.

The prosecutor said that on the day Nicholson was detained police were watching an address in Penicuik, in Midlothian. Nicholson was seen leaving with a carrier bag which he placed in the car boot before driving off, only to be stopped by officers later.

Lord Uist told Nicholson that he faced "a significant sentence of imprisonment" for the offence.

The judge deferred sentence on him for a background report and remanded him in custody.