A drug dealer’s forgotten stash sat hidden in a dry stone dyke “for years” until it was accidentally found by enthusiasts playing a worldwide online game, a court heard today.
A pair of Geocaching enthusiasts were hunting “treasures” hidden on a rarely used rural road in Angus using GPS technology when they found a black rucksack stuffed inside a wall there.
Thinking it was the object they had been hunting in the game – in which players around the world use GPS co-ordinates to hunt “caches” hidden and logged online – they opened it up.
But instead of finding the usual notebook and pen to record their find and a trinket often hidden in the cache they found £24,000 worth of heroin.
They took the bag to Broughty Ferry police station later in the day, where forensic analysis linked DNA found on the knotted bags of the drug to Albert Ramsay.
He was arrested and, dumbfounded, told cops he “hadn’t sold heroin for years”.
Now he faces a jail term after he admitted being concerned in the supply of diamorphine.
Fiscal depute Saima Rasheed told Dundee Sheriff Court: “The exact location was within a stone dyke within a farming field.
“It is a remote location and used by occasional ramblers and dog walkers and by agricultural vehicles.
“The witnesses are geocaching enthusiasts, which is a treasure hunting game.
“Items are hidden in particular locations for users to find using co-ordinates from the internet.
“The witnesses were following co-ordinates to a cache near the locus.
“They drove and stopped when the GPS showed they were close.
“They looked near a tree and saw a black rucksack in the nearby dyke.
“They found it contained a set of digital scales and bags containing a rock like substance.
“They immediately realised they had not found the cache and thought they may be illicit drugs.
“They drove to Broughty Ferry police station and handed it in.
“There was 242.6 grams of heroin inside with a maximum value of POUNDS 24,200.
“The accused’s DNA was found within a knot on one of the bags.
“When he was interviewed he stated he had never been to the unregistered track where the bag was found.
“He said he had no knowledge of the contents.”
Ramsay, 50, of Hilltown Court, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to being concerned in the supply of diamorphine on August 27 2016 at Omachie Farm, Kingennie, Angus.
Defence solicitor Kevin Hampton said Ramsay had “no idea” how the drugs got to the remote location, some 20 miles from his Dundee home.
He said: “He is under no illusion that a custodial sentence may be at the forefront of your ladyship’s mind.
“The very clear inference [from the DNA] is that he was involved.
“He has no recollection of that. He says he did not put the bag in that location.”
A sheriff asked the lawyer: “Is he saying it has been in the field for years?”
Mr Hampton replied: “He has no idea.”
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC deferred sentence until later this month for social work background reports and released Ramsay on bail meantime.
She said: “He seems to have said he has not sold drugs for years and years.
“Given the level of drugs a custodial sentence is what is most likely here.”
