A 33 year old Inverness man who ordered £700 worth of diazepam from the internet and then supplied it to friends escaped a jail sentence yesterday.
Alan Mackay, of Cypress Place, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of the Class C drug at his home between November 16 and November 24, 2015.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that the UK Border Force in Coventry intercepted an express mail parcel addressed to Mackay, labelled ‘Educational Material’. But it contained 10,030 tablets with a maximum street value of £2,800.
Police were informed and obtained a search warrant for Mackay’s home and when officers arrived, Mackay said to them he had ordered it to get himself off methodone.
He also confirmed that he would have shared the tablets with his associates.
Mackay’s mobile phone was seized and after analysis, several messages ordering the drugs and negotiating a price were discovered.
Defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif said the drugs were for social supply.
He added: “He has completed an addiction programme and he is now drug free. The penal element could be satisfied by unpaid work and a supervision order could be put in place to ensure he doesn’t drift back into drug misuse.”
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood ordered Mackay to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and remain under social work supervision for a year.