A woman has been handed unpaid work after stashing hundreds of pounds of cocaine under her wig.
Miamuna Touray, 38, utilised the unusual hiding place in a “moment of madness” as police burst into the Aberdeen flat executing a drug search warrant.
But she was quickly foiled when officers took her back to the station for a full search.
Fiscal depute David Rogers told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that in November 2019, police received intelligence that drugs were being supplied from an address at Grandholm Court in Aberdeen.
‘Catastrophically misguided loyalty’
A drug search warrant was granted and executed around 5pm on November 13 2019.
Entry was forced to the address and Touray was found alone within.
She was detained while the property was searched with various quantities of cash found, including £2,495 hidden inside a pillow in the bedroom.
In all, the cash recovered amounted to £3,726.28.
Touray was then arrested and taken to Kittybrewster station where a full search was conducted.
Mr Rogers said: “During this search, a rap containing 30 rocks of white substance and a further white substance were found concealed beneath her wig.”
‘Seconds of stupidity’
When interviewed, Touray stated she had been staying at the property with a male and that the items recovered belonged to him.
She said she concealed the drugs under her wig as police were forcing entry.
The total value of the cocaine recovered was £820.
Touray, of South Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
Defence agent Liam Mcallister said: “My client’s position, from the moment she was spoken to by the police, was that not only was the money nothing to do with her, neither was the drugs.”
He explained Touray, who was “relatively vulnerable” at the time, had been living at the property with a male to who the items belonged to.
The lawyer said she had made the decision to hide the drugs out of “quite catastrophically misguided loyalty to him”.
He said she had wanted to make the situation better for him and “panicked” when the police entered and, in a “frenzied” state, stashed the cocaine beneath her hairpiece.
‘Considerable implications’
Mr Mcallister added: “We’re dealing with a matter of seconds of stupidity to involve herself in something she hadn’t been involved in.”
He said Touray, a mum-of-one, does not take drugs or approve of those who supply them to others. She is no longer in contact with the male.
He added: “The lady who appears in court today is a far cry from the lady who was involved in this moment of madness.”
Mr Mcallister said his client did not have settled status in the UK and that the conviction could have “considerable implications” for her.
However, he accepted a court-ordered social work report’s recommendation of admonition was “ambitious”.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin ordered Touray to be supervised for 18 months and complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
She also granted a Crown motion for forfeiture of the money found at the flat.
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