A 22-year-old drug mule has been banned from re-entering Scotland after he was caught in possession of Class A drugs worth more than £73,000.
Lewis Bayne appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted being concerned in the supply of large quantities of cocaine and heroin following a raid on a property in the Kincorth area of Aberdeen.
In the joint operation with Merseyside Police, officers found drugs stored openly around the property, with cocaine totalling more than £40,000 and heroin worth more than £32,000.
However, due to his young age, Bayne avoided a prison sentence but was banned from Scotland.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin said she hoped it would protect Bayne from “being asked to do this again”.
Police received intelligence
Fiscal depute David Ballock told the court that throughout October and November last year, Police Scotland received intelligence that controlled drugs were being stored at an address on Gardner Road.
“Police obtained a drug search warrant,” he said.
“At approximately 12.35pm on November 4 2022, the warrant was executed and the accused was found within the property.
“Controlled drugs were seen on open display.
“The accused was arrested and taken to Kittybrewster Custody Suite.”
Bayne was searched by the officers and was found to be holding £1,340 in cash.
A number of packages and wraps containing white and brown powder were found within the property, alongside scales, a metal spoon with powder on it and a notebook with notations in it.
The total maximum value of the cocaine was £40,560 and the maximum street value of the heroin was £33,790.
Bayne pleaded guilty to one charge of being concerned in the supply of cocaine and a second charge of being concerned in the supply of heroin.
‘A nefarious enterprise’
Defence solicitor Andrew Ormiston told the court that his client was “not aware of the extent of the quantities of the substances” that were in the packages found.
Mr Ormiston said his client had accrued a debt to an organised crime gang in Liverpool and had been sent up to Aberdeen to bring packages back.
“Young vulnerable males from the area are targetted by those who are involved in those operations – it’s a nefarious enterprise,” he said.
“He wasn’t physically assaulted but it’s well known what will happen if you do not do what these people tell you to.
“He was asked to come up to Aberdeen and pick up a package that needed to be conveyed somewhere else.
“Usually we see people bringing packages here – in this instance he was a drug courier in reverse.”
Sentencing Bayne, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin outlined the “scourge” that the trafficking of drugs has on both Liverpool and Aberdeen and often “involves the very vulnerable”.
However, the sheriff said that due to Bayne’s young age she felt that a community-based disposal was more “realistic for rehabilitation”.
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff McLaughlin sentenced Bayne, of Poulton Road, Wirral, to a community payback order with supervision for two years and ordered him to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
She also banned Bayne from re-entering Scotland for two years, which she said was “partly to protect the people of the north-east, but also to protect you from being asked to do this again”.
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