A man who was paid £500 to transport £70,000 worth of class A drugs to the north-east has been jailed for almost three years.
Sammer Juneja, 29, was out of work and desperate for money, so he agreed to transport substances to Peterhead from Crewe in England.
He was told he would be conveying anabolic steroids to Scotland, but realised this was not the case.
While he was driving on Erroll Street in Peterhead on May 30 last year, police saw that his car was registered to Crewe and decided to follow him.
When they pulled him over, he said he was visiting a friend in the town but was unable to provide details.
Officers then searched his car and found a shoe box in a bag containing the drugs.
Juneja confessed to supplying the substances during an appearance at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in February and returned yesterday to be sentenced.
Fiscal depute John Richardson said the drugs included cocaine and diamorphine which had the potential to be worth more than £70,000.
Representing Juneja, defence agent Paul Parker-Smith asked for his client to be spared jail.
He said: “He indicated he was told to transport anabolic steroids.
“He knew he was being asked to transport something illegal, you do not get paid £500 to transport anabolic steroids.
“Would it not be possible to keep this young man out of jail?”
Imposing a sentence, Sheriff Graeme Buchanan said: “What you were involved in was bringing large quantities of class A drugs to the north-east of Scotland, an area which is bedevilled by drugs.
“People who get themselves involved in that activity, even as a courier, will be dealt with in a serious fashion.”
He sentenced Juneja, of Christleton Avenue in Crewe, to two years and eight months imprisonment.
