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.
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