An alleged middle manager in an organised crime gang who was caught in the Highlands with almost £900,000 of cocaine in his car boot has been jailed.
Garry Jordan, 35, was driving near Aviemore when his car was intercepted by police who found approximately three kilos of the Class A drug.
An analysis of messages from an encrypted Encrochat phone placed him “in a logistics role at a mid-level in the hierarchy of the organised crime group”, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.
Jordan has been jailed for five years and three months and his passenger and accomplice, Steven McCallum,34, was handed a four-year sentence.
The court was told that the pair, both fathers, had been travelling in a Vauxhall Corsa on the A95 Aviemore-to-Carrbridge road with a holdall full of drugs in the boot when they were stopped on May 29, 2020.
Backpack of cocaine was worth almost £900,000
Prosecutor Blair Speed said some of the cocaine was up to 76% pure and its potential value was around £889,000.
Officers also recovered a suspected Encrochat phone installed with an encrypted chat app often used in criminal circles.
Jordan had used the app for pedalling cocaine between March 27 and May 7 2020 with one message describing him as a “manager”.
Jordan pled guilty to being involved in the supply of cocaine between March 27 and May 29 in 2020 and McCallum admitted his involvement on a single day, May 29 in 2020.
Defence counsel Paul Nelson KC, said Jordan was a “cog in the machine” and had a drug debt which had been exploited by others.
“He would not accept the classification of being middle management,” he said. “He is not a man who enjoyed an affluent lifestyle and no confiscation proceedings have been brought against him.”
“He is not a truly significant player in the enterprise, but he is a cog in the machine,” the defence counsel added.
Agreed to one-off drug run during lockdown
Brian Fitzpatrick, defence solicitor advocate for McCallum, said he had been acting as a courier for the drugs on a single day.
“His involvement in this enterprise occurred during a lockdown period,” he said.
“He was working up until the lockdown. He was one of those who fell through the net of government assistance.”
He said McCallum had an excellent work record in normal times, but had agreed to do the drug run on one occasion for a single payment.
Judge Lord Arthurson jailed Jordan, of Thistle Neuk, Old Kilpatrick, in West Dunbartonshire for five years and eight months, and McCallum of Kintyre Avenue, Linwood, in Renfrewshire, for four years.
He told them: “You are both family men with children,” before deeming Jordan a moderate level of risk and McCallum as a medium risk.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
