A woman has been handed a supervision order after she allowed her drug dealer to have £14,000 of cocaine posted to her address.
The parcel, which was addressed to Nicola Miller, was intercepted by authorities at the Royal Mail office on Ashgrove Road.
When police investigated and found thousands of pounds worth of the Class A drug inside, it was not difficult to trace the 40-year-old, whose name and address were printed on the label.
Fiscal depute Kirsty Martin told Aberdeen Sheriff Court police were called by staff at the Royal Mail at 10.30am on May 27 2022.
Staff reported finding a “suspicious package”.
A search warrant was then executed on June 1 and the package address to Nicola Miller was recovered.
Inside it, officers found 146.66g of cocaine with a maximum street value of £14,660.
‘She was simply doing what she was asked to do’
Intelligence showed Miller had attended the delivery office to attempt to collect the parcel.
On June 9 2022, police executed a search warrant at Miller’s address as shown on the parcel.
She was traced alone inside and a message sent from her phone was found saying: “Yeah no parcel arrived, chum. Totally gone.”
She was arrested and taken to Kittybrewster station.
In reply to caution and charge she replied: “Yeah but they’re not mine.”
Miller, now of Clifton Road, Aberdeen, pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
Defence agent John Hardie said his client appeared as a first offender.
He said: “She has a significant history of mental health difficulties. They are managed by regular injections of anti-psychotic medication.”
‘Her dealer arranged for a parcel to be delivered’
At the time of the offence, Mr Hardie explained, Miller had been experiencing low moods and had not been attending for her injections.
He added: “Her psychotic symptoms were in play.”
Miller was also taking crack cocaine and cannabis at the time.
Mr Hardie continued: “Her dealer arranged for a parcel to be delivered for his attention but using her name and address.
“Nothing was said out loud about it but that was essentially what she understood was happening.
“She had nothing to gain and was simply doing what she was asked to do by the person that sold her the drugs.
“She is not unwilling but is a largely unwitting pawn.”
Sheriff Ian Wallace handed her an 18-month supervision order as a direct alternative to custody.
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