£93,000 crack cocaine couple jailed

A COUPLE who were caught with one of Scotland’s largest amounts of crack cocaine have been jailed for six and five years.

• Couple found with £93,000 of crack cocaine jailed for combined sentence of 11 years

• Haul is “largest [seizure of crack cocaine] made by a Scottish police force”

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Marcus Haswell, 31, of Brixton, London, and Victoria Lamb, 26, of Swindon, Wiltshire, were detained at Aberdeen railway station on 1 September, 2011, after arriving on a train from King’s Cross in London.

Police recovered three packets from a rucksack carried by Haswell and tests revealed 750 grams of crack cocaine with a street value of up to £93,000.

Lord Stewart said at the High Court in Edinburgh that he had been told by a police witness that “it was one of the largest seizures of crack cocaine made by a Scottish police force.”

Haswell and Lamb were convicted after a trial of being concerned in the supplying of the drugs. Lawyers for the pair told their sentencing hearing that both maintained their innocence. The judge heard that Lamb no longer had any association with Haswell, and she screamed abuse at him as they were led away to begin their prison terms.

Lord Stewart said he had no information to suggest that either accused had become involved through coercion or naivety.

“I am led to infer the motive for both was financial gain. The amount of drugs with which you were entrusted suggests you were not the smallest players,” said the judge.

He added that the only reason to distinguish between the two was that Haswell had a more serious previous criminal record.