News / Jailed for storing drugs worth £35,000
A SHETLAND man has been sentenced to more than two years in jail at Lerwick Sheriff Court after he admitted being concerned in the supply of large quantities of Class A and Class B drugs between February and June this year.
Forty six year old Innes Irvine admitted storing tens of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine, STP and amphetamine at his home at 14 Twageos Road, but denied that he had been directly involved in selling the drugs.
Sheriff Mhari MacTaggart sent Irvine to prison for a total of 28 months on four charges, including obstructing police officers by trying to drive and then run away from them.
A decision will be made next month on the Crown’s attempt to confiscate £10,585 in cash police seized when they searched Irvine’s home in June.
Irvine was remanded in custody on 26 June after his third arrest on drugs related charges this year.
Police initially brought him to court on 23 February, when he was charged with obstructing police.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the police had stopped Irvine in his car on 22 February in Lerwick’s Gilbertson Road after receiving a tip off.
When he realised why they wanted to speak to him, he jumped back into his car and tried to turn the ignition. The two officers dragged him out again and forced him to the ground to prevent his struggling.
Having been released on bail Irvine was re-arrested on 17 March when police searched his car in the Lerwick Co-op car park where they found almost 1kg of amphetamine in the vehicle and later in his home.
The third arrest was on 26 June after a police searched his house and found cocaine and STP, a notebook with names and phone numbers and more than £10,000 in cash.
Mackenzie said the amount of Class B amphetamine recovered was just short of 994 grammes, with a street value of almost £20,000, but which could have been bought wholesale for as little as £1,500.
The 179 grammes of cocaine recovered could have been bought in bulk for £5,753, or realised £8,950 in small deals; while the STP – a synthetic psychedelic amphetamine substitute – was valued at £4,600.
Mackenzie said the seizures “would suggest to the Crown that this is someone who’s involved in the introduction of a variety of drugs to Shetland at a fairly significant level”.
However defence agent Lee Qumsieh firmly denied this charge, saying that his client had merely served as a store house for drugs and cash for “someone higher up the supply chain”.
Qumsieh said: “He has not had any involvement in any actual physical sales of drugs to the public.
“His position is that he didn’t benefit financially from these dealings, he allowed himself to be persuaded and perhaps taken advantage of by another individual.”
The lawyer claimed the dealer was able to take advantage of Irvine because of his substantial health problems, which have seen him lose both kidneys to a genetic disease, suffer a heart attack and a stroke following severe head injuries that left him unconscious for six weeks and with consequent long term memory problems.
He also questioned the approach the police took during the interview, saying that they had interviewed him in the early hours of the morning when they knew he was extremely tired, suffered memory difficulties and had been in custody for some time.
“Had this gone to trial it may have been argued that those procedures by the police were unfair,” Qumsieh said.
“This is not someone who is profiting from drug dealing and I would take exception to the suggestion that Mr Innes was responsible for bringing controlled drugs into Shetland.
“There’s absolutely no evidence for that at all and there’s nothing in the charge to suggest that was an allegation against Mr Innes.”
Sheriff MacTaggart adjourned the case to allow the defence to see the notebook, described by the prosecution as a “tick list”, after which Qumsieh said it only contained five or six names and a couple of phone numbers and therefore could not be associated with drug dealing.
Sentencing Innes to a total of 28 months, reduced from 42 months due to his early plea and his limited criminal record, the sheriff said: “I don’t know where in the chain of supply you came, I rather suspect you are further up the chain than you would have the social worker or myself believe.”
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