TWO drugs couriers who played a key role in a plan to flood Tayside

with nearly #150,000 worth of cannabis resin were each jailed for seven

years at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday. A third accused was

jailed for three years.

Lord Milligan told William Sim and David Todd: ''You no doubt realised

you were playing for high stakes and if you had got away with it, a very

large quantity of drugs would have been launched to supplement that

already available in Tayside region. In the result, you were caught and

now you must pay the penalty.''

Sim, 33, of Portobello Road, and Todd, 32, of Hogarth Road, Earls

Court, both London, admitted bringing 29 kilos of the class B drug by

train from London to Dundee on October 28 and 29 last year.

Police watched both men get off the train at Taybridge station in

Dundee and followed them to Lauderdale Avenue in the city.

Mr Robert Anthony, counsel for Sim, told the court that Sim's cousin

had borrowed #3000 from moneylenders in London and disappeared from the

scene when he could not pay it back.

The moneylenders then began to seek repayment from Sim and he came

under increasing pressure as threats were made to the woman he lived

with and their child.

The moneylenders finally told him that he could pay off the debt by

taking the drugs from London to Dundee.

Mr Paul McBride, counsel for Todd, said his client had known Sim for

12 years and considered him to be a good friend. ''His involvement

resulted from his loyalty to his friend,'' added Mr McBride. ''He fully

accepts that he acted in

an extremely foolish manner.''

Lord Milligan said he had some sympathy with the predicament in which

Sim had found himself but the fact remained that he had chosen to defy

the law rather than those who were threatening him.

The third man, Jack Hill, 38, to whose house the drugs were delivered,

had admitted being in possession of about #800 worth of cannabis with

intent to supply.