A Romanian illegal immigrant was recruited by a serious organised crime gang to sell thousands of pounds of cocaine in the Highlands.
Ioan Chis is now facing deportation after he admitted dealing drugs in Inverness totalling over £12,000 between July 31 2023 and September 5 2023.
The 23-year-old was caught in a sting operation by police who had managed to obtain the telephone number for the County Lines operation.
Inverness County Lines used Whatsapp
Fiscal depute Emily Hood told Inverness Sheriff Court that phone lines are used to coordinate sales of drugs in different areas of the country.
Orders are placed on what is referred to as a “Tommy” line via Whatsapp and then the runner – in this case Chis – gets the delivery details via another phone.
“The person running the Tommy line then texts the customer the vehicle registration number driven by the runner and sends a pin drop map directing the customer where to go,” Ms Hood told Sheriff Gary Aitken.
Undercover operation into County Lines in Inverness
She added that undercover police officers posed as customers seeking to buy a gram of cocaine for £80.
The court was told that on August 29 and August 31, two officers separately arranged to meet Chis in Douglas Row and Strothers Lane in Inverness and they handed over the money.
Police then attended at an address in Clachnaharry Road on September 5 and Chis was traced to his room but no drugs were found.
But telephone analysis showed that Chis’s phone number had 3,180 communications with the other phone.
‘Messages indicate involvement’
Ms Hood went on: “These messages represent 154 deals. Accordingly at £80 per deal, this is £12,320 worth of cocaine.
“The messages indicate that Chis’s involvement as a runner started on August 14 until the day of enforcement action.”
Defence solicitor David Patterson said his client had no previous convictions and a background report would be required.
Sheriff Aitken deferred sentence until September 30 for a background report and Chis was again remanded.
