A Moray mother-of-two who was caught with drugs worth more than £300,000 became involved in the illegal trade after criminals threatened to harm her children, a court has heard.
Sasha Peel, 29, was arrested after detectives found cocaine, heroin and large quantities of the sedative etizolam at her home in Lossiemouth on August 8 last year.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard officers raided Peel’s house in the town’s Cromarty Place after receiving intelligence that gangsters were using her property as a storage facility.
They found heroin with a maximum street value of £31,360, cocaine worth £265,800 and etizolam which could have been sold for £59,703.
When police interviewed Peel, she said she felt that she had no other option and wanted her family to remain safe.
Advocate depute Richard Goddard said: “The accused claimed that she became involved as she had received a phone call threatening her and her children with harm if she didn’t agree to have her house used as a ‘safe house’.
“The accused stated that she expected to be paid money in return for storing the drugs.
“However, she stated that over the period libelled she only obtained two payments, one of £300 and the other for £450, paid by a male who uplifted cocaine.”
Yesterday, Peel admitted three charges of being involved in the supply of drugs between March 21 and August 8 last year.
Mr Goddard told the court that Peel was a tenant in the property and had lived there since 2013.
He said the police raided the address after receiving information and took her to nearby Elgin police office to be interviewed.
He added: “In the course of her interview, the accused admitted that the drugs recovered in her house had been delivered to her there and that she was looking after them on behalf of others.
“She stated that persons would arrive to uplift quantities from her and this could happen once every few days or occasionally over a longer period.
“She admitted storing controlled drugs throughout the period libelled. She stated that the persons who would deliver and uplift the drugs were unknown to her.”
Peel’s counsel, advocate Edith Forrest, said that given her client’s lack of previous offending, the court would need a report about her background before sentence could be imposed.
Judge Michael O’Grady deferred sentence to next month and remanded Peel in custody.