A drug courier caught bringing £100,000 of heroin into the north-east was “fed to the wolves” by an organised crime gang, his solicitor has claimed.
David Woods lined his suitcase with scented tumble dryer sheets in a bid to fool sniffer dogs after agreeing to deliver the package to Aberdeen for £2,000.
But police were tipped off about the plan and arrested the 33-year-old at Stonehaven train station.
But the Liverpudlian’s solicitor said he believed the organised crime gang behind the operation had deliberately sacrificed his client to distract from an even larger shipment of drugs.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told Aberdeen Sheriff Court police received intelligence that Woods was involved in transporting drugs on September 6 last year.
‘He agreed to do it to use the money to pay off debts’
At 1.32pm the same day, detectives at Stonehaven station saw Woods get off a train carrying a grey suitcase and black laptop bag.
A search of the suitcase uncovered a carrier bag of drugs and Woods was arrested.
Mr Middleton said: “At the police station, the carrier bag was found to contain 1,125 individual packages.
“Testing revealed that these consisted of diamorphine, caffeine and paracetamol.”
It was discovered 344 of the packages weighed around 3.5g each, and the remaining 781 weighed around 1.73g each.
The total weight of heroin recovered was 2,548.25g, worth up to a maximum of £103,760.
Mr Middleton said: “At interview, the accused explained that he initially met an unknown female who gave him £250 to buy a train ticket to Aberdeen.
“Then on Sunday September 5 2021, while still in Liverpool, he met a male who gave him the packages. He was told to bring them to Aberdeen.
“The accused put the carrier bag in the grey suitcase, layered the package with scented tumble dryer sheets, to prevent the sniffer dogs from smelling the cash he thought was within.
“He then travelled to Aberdeen the next day by train.
“He denied knowing the packages contained diamorphine.”
‘Mr Woods was entirely disposable to these people’
Woods initially said he thought the package was paperwork, then said he thought it was cash to buy cannabis.
Mr Middleton added: “He said that the organised crime group (OCG) behind this were going to pay him £2,000 to carry the packages.
“He agreed to do it to use the money to pay off debts. He denied being a part of the OCG.”
Woods, of Yelverton Road, Liverpool, pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin.
Defence agent Kevin Longino said his client was “not in the best of places” at the time and had personal and financial problems.
He said: “It was known to people that, because of the nature of his employment, he had to travel and came to Aberdeen on occasion for his work.
“He was targeted because of that.”
Mr Longino said as Woods neared Aberdeen he “started to have second thoughts”.
‘Highly addictive drug which causes much damage’
The solicitor said it was “relatively common” for large OCGs to tip off authorities about a drug courier to distract from a larger shipment.
He said: “I have a strong suspicion that’s what happened.
“Mr Woods was entirely disposable to these people.”
Mr Longino said his client had been “fed to the wolves”.
He added: “He’s a victim. Those who were controlling him are getting away Scot free because he doesn’t even know who they were.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan said: “For a matter as serious as this, the court could only impose a period of imprisonment.
“It involves you being involved in the supplying of heroin, which of course is a highly addictive drug which causes much damage.”
He ordered Woods to be jailed for 18 months.
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