Dealer jailed over £67k heroin haul

Brian Hossack • Published 16 Mar 2010 14:00

A DRUGS dealer caught with heroin worth more than £67,000 when police smashed a crime gang's Larkfield drug factory has been jailed for three years.

Gary Peacock, 22, was caught as part of a major covert drugs operation against an organised crime gang in Larkfield - with heroin weighing more than a kilo recovered.

The court heard the 22-year-old was caught after his DNA and fingerprints were found on various items within a bed-sit drugs den in Oxford Road. The police raid on the property was carried out as part of Operation Avarice.

After entering the flat, police recovered six bags containing heroin, weighing a total of 1.087 kilos and valued at £67,394.

Investigations revealed a mystery figure had been renting the flat from a landlord under a false name. The man was never seen again after the search warrant that led to the drugs seizure.

After being tracked down by police, Peacock admitted cutting and packaging heroin several times each week within the flat over a three-month period.

Thomas Ross QC, appearing on behalf of defence solicitor Aidan Gallagher, said his client had been abducted as part of coercion to get him involved in the gang's drug enterprise.

He added: "He is from a good family but got involved with the wrong associates. Certain pressures were then applied and these included him being abducted in a car and seriously assaulted."

Peacock, of South Street, Greenock, pleaded guilty to supplying the Class A drug between 1 December 2007 and 25 February last year within a flat in Oxford Road.

Jailing him for three years, Lord Brailsford said: "Having heard the mitigation presented by your defence agent, I am capable of dealing with this at the lower end of the scale and reduce the sentence from four years."

His sentence was backdated until February.

Tweet

This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 16 Mar 10

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @greenocktele