Woman caught on Stonehaven train hiding £30,000 of heroin in holdall

A woman caught trying to smuggle heroin worth £30,000 into the north-east has been told it is “overwhelmingly likely” she will be sent to prison.

Veronica Ryrie was stopped by police at Stonehaven as she travelled north on April 5.

Officers had received a tip-off she was working as a drug mule.

The 40-year-old claimed to have agreed to transport the class A substance into the city in order to pay off a debt for someone else.

She admitted being involved in the supply of heroin at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday.

Fiscal depute Sally Macauley said Ryrie had five bags of the drug– weighing about 450g –  in a holdall, concealed beneath a pair of jogging bottoms.

It was estimated the drugs were worth between £10,000 and £29,800 – the value escalating if the heroin was broken-down into so-called “tenner bags”.

Sheriff Andrew Miller deferred sentence on Ryrie, of West Mount Street, Aberdeen, for social work reports.

She was released on bail and will return to court next month.