Two Glasgow men jailed over valium stash
Two Glasgow men caught with a van full of Valium with a street value of more than £370,000 have been jailed for a total of 14 years and four months.
Two Glasgow men caught with a van full of Valium with a street value of more than £370,000 have been jailed for a total of 14 years and four months.
Gary Corkindale, 39, of Milton, and Alexander Connelly, 34, of Craigend, admitted being concerned in the supply of Diazepam – also known as Valium – from December 2015 until February last year.
Corkindale also admitted being concerned in the supply of amphetamine and cannabis.
Yesterday Judge Tom Hughes QC jailed McCorkindale for eight years and Connelly for six years and four months.
Judge Hughes told them: “Drugs is a catastrophic problem in society. Drugs cause absolute misery.:
Prosecutor Lyndsey MacDonald told the High Court in Glasgow that police received a tip-off on February 26, last year, that a van parked in Lomond Street, Possilpark, contained drugs.
The white Mercedes van had been hired by Connelly from Leslie Commercials on February 12, last year, and Corkindale was with him.
When police went to Lomond Street they found the hire van parked and unattended. They parked behind the van, so that it could not be driven away.
Connelly who drove past in a white VW Golf watched what the police were doing and then sped off.
Other police officers went to the hire firm to find out who had hired the van and while they were there Connelly phoned asking for the spare key for the van.
Connelly also asked if there had been any complaints about where the van was parked and added he had been told it was surrounded by police.
Then Corkindale arrived at the hire firm and asked for the spare key to the van.
He was detained and his Peugeot was searched. In the boot was an Asda carrier bag containing 10 bags of amphetamine with a street value of £11,250.
Police opened the van using the spare key and found cardboard boxes and commercially-sealed packages containing Diazepam inside.
Ms MacDonald told the court that the total maximum street value of the Diazepam was £376,320.
She added: “Police found tick lists and phones in the accused Corkindale's Peugeot and in Connelly's VW Golf.”
In Connelly's home police found a mobile phone and £1,025 in cash and in Corkindale's house they discovered a tick list and a bag of amphetamine with a street value of £1,030.
Corkindale's girlfriend Sandra Craig was seen leaving her home at Egilsay Crescent, Milton, carrying a Greaves sports bag.
She was detained and the bag was searched and found to contain paperwork in the name of Corkindale, along with phones, a Rolex watch, two sets of car keys, a tick list and £1,847.40 in cash.
A search of her house revealed 991 grams of cannabis which has a potentially street value of £19,820. The cannabis belonged to Corkindale.
Ms Craig's plea of not guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis was accepted by the Crown and she walked free from court.
The court heard that Corkindale has previous convictions including a High Court conviction in 2012 for being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis resin.