A drug dealer caught peddling cocaine and heroin in the north-east claims he was obeying orders from an English organised crime gang, who had threatened to hurt his family.
Rhyan Kelly was found with Class A drugs worth around £2,000 at his Boddam home when police carried out an intelligence-led raid, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
The 22-year-old had a quantity of cash, measuring scales and packaging and was quick to deny owning any of the drugs or money when interviewed by police.
Kelly’s solicitor claimed he had been forced into dealing by a “county lines drugs syndicate” following threats, which were “by no means hollow”.
Fiscal depute Ruaridh McAllister said the cocaine recovered from the home in Queen’s Crescent, Boddam, home totalled 11.39g and could’ve fetched £1,130 on the street.
The heroin that was found during the raid on June 14 last year amounted to 12.49g, with a street value of up to £760.
Defence agent Leonard Burkinshaw said his client was looking forward to becoming a dad next month and really wants to “put this behind him”.
“He, unfortunately, got involved in taking drugs and what was suggested when he appeared in court previously in England is that he was a vulnerable person being used to transport drugs between his hometown of Liverpool and other areas in England to facilitate drug trades there,” Mr Burkinshaw said.
“He still feels the repercussions of that.
“He was sentenced to time in an English young offenders’ institute and those instructing him didn’t take kindly to him being caught.
‘They were not hollow threats’
“He had to go back to the same environment he left and it was made clear to him there was a debt owed and that it would need to be paid.
“Threats were made to his family and they were not hollow ones.
“He was told to take drugs up to the Peterhead area and he was not in a position to refuse.
“He has been caught red-handed and his guilty plea was made at an early stage.
“He’s very realistic and knows that the court’s options are very limited.”
The solicitor added that Kelly was due to become a father in the coming weeks and he and his partner hope to “make a fresh start away from all his previous contacts”.
Had drugs worth £2,000
His co-accused Clara Stephen’s not guilty plea was accepted by the Crown meaning she’d been cleared of any involvement.
Sheriff Andrew Miller said he understood Kelly was not the main man in the drug-dealing chain but that he must take a “very serious view” of his deliberate move to the north-east to deal drugs.
Kelly, a prisoner at HMP Grampian in Peterhead, was jailed for 18 months.
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