An Inverness father-to-be has been locked up for almost six years for running a large scale drugs network.
Conor Bennett masterminded the lucrative trafficking – with deals even being set up via social media.
The 24 year-old had teamed up with henchman Daniel Hunter, 26, to flood the Highlands with drugs.
But they were snared when Hunter’s phone was seized during a separate probe, and it uncovered the 14-month operation.
It led to Bennett and Hunter admitting to being concerned in the supply of ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis.
Prosecutors said the offences were aggravated by a connection to serious organised crime.
Bennett was jailed for five years and nine months.
He was latterly a £5,000-a-month off shore worker who had once been a promising golfer.
But it emerged he had been locked up for 40 months in 2010 for another class A drugs crime.
Hunter was meantime sentenced to four years in prison.
Bennett appeared to be in tears as he was led handcuffed to the cells.
The crime became apparent after Hunter was quizzed during a robbery investigation in October 2014.
As a result, he handed his mobile phone over to police.
Prosecutor David Taylor said: “The examination of the mobile phone obtained from Hunter revealed messages that clearly evidence the large scale supply of controlled drugs.
“Data from Hunter’s phone contains several hundred messages indicative of supply.
“Those messages – in the format of texts, social media and instant messages – provide a history of business transaction.”
Days later, Bennett was held by police in connection with an unrelated matter.
His Inverness home was searched later that day and £12,000 was found stuffed inside pockets of a jacket.
As the investigation was stepped up, further raids took place in April 2015.
Mr Taylor said: “It is evident from the content of the phones recovered that Bennett was orchestrating the distribution of Class A and B drugs to Hunter.”
Bennett insisted to police that cash found came from winning a football bet.
The charges the pair pleaded guilty to spanned between February 2014 and April 2015.
Bennett was just 18 when he was locked up with two others after police seized £114,000 of cocaine in the Highlands.
