A drug mule chucked more than £4,000 of cocaine and heroin out of his high-rise window as police raided the dealer’s flat in Aberdeen.
Kaine Jones claimed he was pressured into smuggling the Class A drugs package from Birmingham to Aberdeen for his dealers.
They’d promised to cancel the addict’s drug debts in return for the favour, his solicitor told a court.
The 25-year-old transported the envelope containing £4,320 worth of illegal substances, believing “his family would be hurt” if he didn’t make the trip.
But police launched a raid on his Aberdeen flat on November 7 last year, after intelligence tipped off officers about the haul.
When they arrived at the Aulton Court high-rise to search the property in Seaton Crescent, Jones threw the package from his flat window.
Text message offered drugs to 99 phone numbers
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that police discovered a mobile that sent a text offering drugs to 99 different phone numbers.
“During the execution of the warrant, officers entered the kitchen and observed the accused throwing an item out of the window,” Mr Middleton said.
“A police officer covering the outside of the properly recovered the item. The envelope contained two packages of brown powder and a bag of white powder.”
These were confirmed to be the Class A drugs heroin and cocaine.
A search of the flat led to the discovery of a further two knotted packages containing white rock substances found to be more crack cocaine.
The total 49.5 grams of cocaine recovered had a potential street value of £3,740 and the 15.47 grams of heroin was worth £580.
Officers also seized £1,195 in cash, two mobile phones and two sets of weighing scales with traces of cocaine on them.
One of the mobile phones contained a message sent to 99 different numbers “making reference to the availability of heroin and crack cocaine,” the court heard.
Jones, who has previous convictions for drug dealing in both Scotland and Birmingham – where he is from – pled guilty to two charges of being concerned in the supply of drugs.
Stillborn birth tragedy sent addict ‘spiralling’
His defence agent Iain McGregor said his client had been pressured into dealing after falling back into heroin addiction and racking up significant drug debts.
He said the tragic stillborn birth of his second child last year had sent Jones “spiralling” back into abusing heroin.
Jones had previously kicked his drug habit that started when he was aged just 15 years old.
“The proposition was put to him that if he travelled to Aberdeen with a package, that debt would be wiped,” McGregor added.
“He was told in no uncertain terms that if he did not take that offer, his family would be hurt. He took the path of least resistance.”
The solicitor said Jones “deeply regrets becoming back involved with heroin”.
Sentencing Jones, Sheriff Andrew Miller told him: “You chose, albeit under pressure, to involve yourself in the chain of supply of these Class A drugs when you chose to travel from Birmingham to Aberdeen to contribute to the supply to users in this area”.
He jailed Jones, who appeared from custody at HMP Grampian prison in Peterhead, for two years – backdated to November 2022.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
