Two men were held after almost £1m of cannabis was found at an industrial cleaning firm in Aberdeen.
Steven Clark, 41, has now been jailed for three and a half years at the High Court in Glasgow with accomplice Sean Imlach, 53, sentenced to three years and nine months.
Police raided the warehouse of Aberdeen Blast Cleaning Services in East Tullos Industrial Estate’s Hillview Road on February 12 2022.
Detectives discovered a number of boxes at the site filled with 56kg of the class B drug.
Clark then went on to state: “How did you know about this delivery? Have you been watching? There are four boxes of weed, it’s mine.
“I am going to jail. To be honest, I have had enough of all this. Will this affect my business? Can I plead guilty now?”
‘He was very much in way above his head’
Prosecutor William Frain-Bell said the drugs had a potential value of £940,925.
A further £70,000 in cash was discovered in a bag in a van.
Imlach was also later held for his involvement after being stopped behind the wheel of a Ford Transit.
Both men, also of Aberdeen, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
Clark’s lawyer Kenneth Cloggie said: “He played a link in the chain of the wholesale supply in relation to this venture which was very ill thought out by him.
“He realised that he was very much in way above his head.”
David Moggach, defending Imlach, told the court: “This was later in life that he became involved in a crime of this nature. He was out of his depth.”
Lord Arthurson said the jail term for both would have been five years but for the guilty pleas.
He told them: “You each played a significant role in a drug trafficking operation on a major scale.”