Gang who produced more than £1.5million worth of fake Valium in Paisley jailed

A drug gang who produced over £1.5million worth of fake Valium have been jailed.

Police who raided the drugs factory found 1,676,094 Etizolam pills, which are dubbed the Blue Plague, with a maximum street value of £1.676m.

Around 250,000 pills were being produced every hour, and many more hundreds of thousands were bagged and stored in holdalls for onward supply.

Today at the High Court in Glasgow Scott McGaw, 33, of Victoria Road, Paisley, and Eric Reid, 45, of Blackwood Terrace, Johnstone, were convicted of producing the drug Etizolam at 47 Back Sneddon Street, Paisley, between May 26, 2016 and March 1, 2017.

McGaw provided the cash to set up the running of the operation which required hi-tech machinery including a £20,000 pill press.

They recruited self taught chemistry expert Harry Ingle to make the Etizolam and his friend Nicholas Conway joined the operation in February last year.

Ingle admitted being involved in the production and supply of Etizolam between May 26, 2016, and March 1, 2017. and Conway pleaded guilty to being involved in the supply between 24 February and March 1, 2017.

The court heard that Ingle, 40, from Reading, Berkshire, and Conway, 45, from London, were found at the premises wearing forensic suits which were covered in blue dust.

Initially they claimed they were there as cleaners, but during the trial they admitted their part in the operation.

McGaw provided the money to set up the operation and Reid was the facilitator, who rented the premises and organised the delivery of materials from as far afield as China.

Neither McGaw nor Reid gave evidence, but they claimed that they walked away from the operation when Etizolam changed from a “legal high” to an illegal drug.

Etizolam was initially a "legal high" but after a number of deaths were linked to it, the law was changed and it became an illegal drug on May 26, 2017.

Detective Constable Greig Baxter, a drug specialist with Police Scotland's STOP unit, said: “This was the biggest production of Etizolam I've ever attended. I know of no-one who has come across a pill press press operation as large as this in the UK.”

DC Baxter added: “In March 2017 Etizolam was selling for 50 pence or £1 a pill.

"We found 1,676,094 tablets on the premises. If sold for £1 a tablet this would realise £1,676,000."

He then told prosecutor Jane Farquharson QC : “If they were bought in deals of 1,000 pills they would realise £251,400.”

The jury was shown a video of the police search of the premises which showed the pill press in operation and also a machine for bagging the pills and another to wash excess dust off them.

Mixing agents were also discovered on the premises.

The whole drug making operation area was covered in thick blue dust.

DC Baxter said: “The machine which was producing the pills would cost around £20,000 to buy.”

The court heard that it took a fork lift truck and a team of firefighters to remove the press from the garage.

Initially only Reid, Ingle and Conway were charged, but McGaw was added to the indictment after incriminating texts between him and Ingle came to light.

In one Ingle referring to the machinery in the drug factory being fixed after breaking down said: “It is purring like a Cheshire cat,” and McGaw replied: “Yeah, we're up and running.”

None of the accused gave evidence during the trial.

All four were remanded in custody.

Judge Lord Burns deferred sentence on them until next month for background reports.

Reid was cleared earlier this year of producing and supplying Etizolam at a house in Howwood, Renfrewshire.