A teenager who believed he was holding onto a friend’s cannabis for one night actually had a rucksack filled with heroin and cannabis worth £16,000.
Terry Flintoff was just 17 when police pulled over the car he was a passenger in after they received intelligence the vehicle was involved in drug dealing in the Mastrick area of Aberdeen.
The teenager’s backpack, which was smelling strongly of cannabis, was searched and found to contain large amounts of Class A and Class B drugs, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Flintoff, now 19, appeared in the dock to admit two charges of being concerned in the supply of drugs.
Fiscal depute Carole Gammie told the court plain-clothed police officers made the find on November 30 2021 after making efforts to track and follow a specific red Ford car.
“At around 5pm, the accused met a friend in his friend’s car – the red Ford referred to in the police intelligence,” she said.
“The accused received a phone call and then asked his friend to take him to Ross Crescent in Mastrick, as he would be getting a ‘bag of something’.
“The accused exited the car when they arrived at Ross Crescent, returning five to 10 minutes later. He placed something in the back seat and asked his friend to take him home. There was now a strong smell of cannabis in the car.”
Rucksack was smelling of cannabis
Around 20 minutes later detectives saw the car and pulled it over for a search.
“The accused got out, holding a rucksack which he dropped to the ground,” Ms Gammie continued. “The officers could smell a strong smell of cannabis coming from the vehicle and from the rucksack.
“He was detained for a drugs search.”
That search uncovered 428.9 grams of cannabis with a street deal value of £7,125 and 306 knotted white packages of heroin, each weighing on average 0.48 grams and with a value, as packaged, of £9.180.
They also found a set of scales in the bag.
Flintoff was taken to Kittybrewster police station, where he was interviewed and denied being involved in drug supply.
He instead told officers he’d been asked to look after a bag of “weed” for one night and that he intended to store it at home and return it to the man the next day.
He appeared ‘very upset’
The court heard: “He stated that he thought that the bag only had a small amount of cannabis in it. During the interview, the accused presented as extremely remorseful, very upset and he was cooperative with the police.”
The Crown confirmed the drug bust was “part of a much wider operation that the accused was not considered to be part of”.
Flintoff’s defence agent Tony Burgess added: “Cannabis was the extent, to his belief, of what he thought he was being asked to look after.”
Sheriff Ian Wallace called for background reports to be prepared and deferred sentence of Flintoff, of Hallfield Road, Aberdeen, until next month.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
