A drugs courier caught with £13,000 of heroin stuffed in a loaf of bread has been jailed.
Euan McArthur hollowed out the bread and stuffed the drugs inside, before adding some chese to cover them up.
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But police were waiting for him as he got off the Aberdeen to Shetland ferry, and picked him on March 20.
McArthur, 37, appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court yesterday for sentencing.
The court heard he had been “bullied” into transporting the Class A drug to Shetland whilst in prison for another offence.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client was paying off a debt by carrying the drugs, and trying to protect his family who were receiving threats.
Fiscal depute Duncan Mackenzie said McArthur, from Edinburgh, had been “nervous and furtive” when approached by police at the ferry terminal. He admitted he had the drugs in the rucksack before it was search.
There was 129 grams of heroin found within the bag, which the court heard McArthur was due to receive £3,000 for.
Police, acting on a tip-off, arrested 37-year-old Euan McArthur at Holmsgarth ferry terminal on 20 March. They found 129 grammes of heroin with a street value of about £13,000 in a hollowed out loaf that had been plugged with cheese.
McArthur, who appeared from custody at the court today, was already serving a sentence that was due to expire later this month.
Of this, £500 was for his travel expenses and the balance was to be taken back to Edinburgh to pay for the drugs.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said that selling class A drugs, including heroin, was a “foul and pernicious” trade that brought misery to many communities.
He said that the message was that “we do not want these drugs in Shetland” and that anyone who flouted that message would be dealt with severely.
McArthur’s 32-month sentence is to run consecutively with his other sentences, which are due to be complete on October 19.
