An offshore worker who acted as the “money man” in a drugs deal worth up to £96,000 has been jailed for more than two years.
Wayne Cran lent a friend £18,000 to help him pay off a drugs debt, and was with him when police swooped.
Cran and Adam Brady, who acted as a courier in the deal, both admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis on an unclassified track leading to Hill of Menie Croft, Balmedie and elsewhere when they appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday.
The offence took place between November 27 and December 8, 2013.
Yesterday Sheriff Graeme Napier accepted the pair were not “fantastically high up” in the supply chain, but described them as “key players” in the transaction.
The court heard Brady, 23, of 107 School Lane, Down Holland, Lancashire, had driven the drugs north, hidden in the back of a van, to pay off his own drugs debt.
Meanwhile Cran, of Flat G, 145 Victoria Road, Aberdeen, had been asked by a friend for the money so he could pay off his dealers.
The 31-year-old’s defence agent, Kevin Longino, said: “He was approached by a friend, someone he had known for a number of years and was advised he had accumulated serious debt and financial problems but he had a way out of it.
“He knew Cran was doing well for himself, working in the offshore industry, so asked him to lend the money to him so he could conclude the deal.”
Sheriff Napier questioned why Cran had got involved, apart from to get some “kudos” from his friends.
He told the pair: “Brody, you were in it for commercial reasons, you were writing off a debt you had. The operation couldn’t have taken place without you acting in this way. It was a reasonably well planned operation.
“Cran, the transaction couldn’t have taken place without you acting as the money man. It’s not clear what you would have got out of it.
“I’m not treating either of you as being fantastically high up the supply chain, but certainly you were key players in this transaction which couldn’t have taken place without the money or someone willing to act as courier.”
He jailed Cran for 32 months, and Brady for 35.