Two men have admitted drug dealing charges after cannabis and cocaine worth £30,000 were found by police.
Jordan Hughes, 21, and Darren Stewart, 27, were in a vehicle driven by Mark Alsopp that failed to stop for police.
When they were searched, along with their homes, drugs with a total value of £30,600 were recovered.
Hughes and Stewart both appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit being concerned in the supplying of cannabis and cocaine on June 2 2021.
Alsopp pled guilty to failing to stop and a cannabis possession charge at the same hearing.
Police officer gave chase
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told the court that it was around 7pm when officers spotted Jordan Hughes in the front seat of a Ford Focus driven by Alsopp on Southside Road, Inverness, and decided to stop it.
She said the police activated blue lights and sirens but the car did not stop.
When slow-moving traffic brought it to a halt, Jordan Hughes got out of the vehicle carrying a black holdall and a Co-op bag.
One police officer chased and apprehended him while another continued to follow the Ford Focus and eventually brought it to a stop.
With all three men detained, officers searched Stewart’s backpack – which contained a herbal substance and a grinder – and the holdall and bag Hughes had been carrying, which contained a herbal substance, a white substance, scales and wraps.
A iPhone seized from Stewart was later found to contain messages indicative of the supply of cannabis.
Cash was recovered from the vehicle and Stewart’s property.
Following the execution of search warrants, the total cannabis recovered was 1330.19 grams of cannabis and 97.75 grams of cocaine.
The cannabis was estimated to be worth around £21,000 and the cocaine £9,600.
Sentence deferred
Solicitor Graham Mann, for Hughes, pointed out that his client had been only 17 years old at the time of the crime.
Shahid Latif, for Stewart, reserved his comments in mitigation until the next calling of the case.
Sheriff Sara Matheson deferred sentencing on Hughes, of Cautley Close, Forres, and Stewart, of Beachen Court, Grantown on Spey, to May 6.
Defence solicitor Marc Disckon told the court that Alsopp’s drugs charge related to “simple possession” of “about £10 worth of cannabis”.
The 55-year-old, of Church Street, Nairn, was fined £320 by Sheriff Matheson.