Man and Woman Jailed for £1.3m Heroin Handover
Two drug traffickers who were caught in a huge heroin handover that could have put pounds £1.3m worth of the drug on the streets have been jailed for 14 years.
Police recovered 15 kilos of the Class A drug as they detained Michael Denholm and Elaine Crosbie following a surveillance operation.
A judge told the pair at the High Court in Edinburgh: "I have to take a very serious view of this matter."
Lord McEwan said: "What is important in this case, unfortunately for you, is that the retail value of this according to the narrative is pounds £1.3m."
The judge jailed Denholm (24) of Claire Street, Newmains, in Lanarkshire, for eight years and told him it would have been a 12-year sentence but for his guilty plea.
Crosbie, who acted as a courier to bring the heroin to Scotland, was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
The court heard that police suspected a delivery of drugs was to be made at the Lanarkshire village of Cleland on May 15 last year after receiving intelligence.
A surveillance team was set up and Denholm was seen standing in the doorway of the Station Bar in Main Street talking on a mobile phone.
Two undercover officers approached the pub and he asked them: "Are you here for the Everton pick up?" They replied "No" and left.
Police later discovered "Everton" was the password for the criminal operation to bring heroin up from Merseyside.
A Ford Focus was seen to drive past the bar with Crosbie at the wheel. A check on the police national computer revealed the car was registered to an address in the Liverpool area.
First offender Denholm was then seen to drive another car to Auchinlea Drive and park behind the Focus. He spoke to Crosbie before both vehicles returned to a car park at the rear of the Station Bar.
Denholm took a holdall from the boot of the Focus and put it in his vehicle. Police approached and identified themselves and Denholm tried to flee but was caught.
Crosbie (49) of Wadham Road, Bootle, Liverpool, said she had been asked to take an item to an address which was placed in the boot of her car. She used satellite navigation to arrive at Cleland Main Street.
She said she had been given a password Everton by a man in Liverpool which she was informed would be repeated by the person she was making the delivery to.
She claimed that she believed she was acting as a courier for a consignment of cannabis.
The holdall was found to contain 30 taped packages of heroin. The wholesale of the heroin was estimated at pounds 375,000, but it could be cut further to produce 19.5 kilos.
The bulked out drugs had the potential to realise pounds 1,365,000 in sold as tenner bags, the court heard.
Defence counsel Louise Arrol, for Denholm, said he had become involved in the "recreational use" of cocaine as a teenager but found himself in debt to dealers.
The court heard that grandmother Crosbie was ashamed of her actions.
Denholm and Crosbie earlier admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin on May 15 last year.