Six men three from Dundee, one a successful businessman from near Forfar and a convicted murderer from Blairgowrie, who were part of a drugs gang operating in Tayside have been jailed for a total of almost 26 years at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Heroin, with a street value of more than £118,000, and £19,000 cash was seized as a result of a swoop by Tayside Police as part of Operation Archangel last summer.
Detectives targeted Broughty Ferry man Andrew Sellars (32), of Balgillo Road, who was jailed for five years and three months by judge Lord Doherty.
Also snared were fellow Dundee men Joseph Torano (31), of Rowantree Crescent, who was locked up for four years and six months, and Gary Burgess, of Douglas Terrace, Broughty Ferry, who was jailed for three years and six months.
Forfar property developer Stephen Donald (54), of Charleston, was given a five-year jail sentence, while labourer George Brodie (40), of Pittendyke, Blairgowrie, was jailed for six years.
Joseph Doherty (41), of Fairburn Street, Tollcross, Glasgow, was locked up for two years and four months.
Sellars and Doherty admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin while the other men were found guilty after trial.
Detective Inspector Mike Pirie, head of the drugs squad in Dundee, last night hailed the sentences as “a great result” and said it had rid the streets of a “serious and organised crime group.”
Sellars was detained on September 12 after he and Brodie met in a lay-by on the A923.
Heroin with a maximum price of £24,350 was seized, along with mobile phones. They revealed text messages and calls that, police said, showed Donald had played a part in arranging the meeting.
During the trial he changed his plea to guilty and admitted being concerned in the supply of the drug.Lifestyle at odds with incomeThe court heard how Sellars, whose associations and luxury car were at odds with his moderate income, became the target of surveillance by police.
They saw him and Torano in a silver BMW X5 on August 23 and later spotted a bag dumped into a blue Vauxhall Corsa driven by Burgess, who headed for Glasgow.
When police pounced after witnessing a handover in a Glasgow pub car park, they recovered a kilo of heroin.
The jury rejected Burgess’ claims that he knew nothing about the drugs and refused to believe Donald’s claim that the only reason for him meeting Sellars was to discuss a possible car sale.
The court heard Donald was a businessman with interests ranging from property to a share in a children’s nursery. He also has links with a gas central heating firm.
Sellars began renting a semi-detached villa in Broughty Ferry from a friend of Stephen Donald.
A frequent visitor was Joseph Torano, from Linlathen, who was previously jailed for driving a stolen car to T in the Park. He had also recently admitted possessing heroin, cannabis and diazepam.
A month after the Glasgow deal was foiled, Sellars withdrew a large sum of cash from a city centre bank and met Stephen Donald at the Dundee International Sports Complex in Mains Loan.
Donald had with him George Brodie, a former employee who murdered a Gulf war veteran in a nightclub brawl in 1991.
The next day undercover officers watched Sellars drive to Piperdam, where he met Stephen Donald and George Brodie.
Having brokered the meeting, Donald drove off, leaving the two to conduct their drug deal.
Operation Archangel officers pounced.
Sellars had 250 grams of heroin in his car. Brodie had no money with him and it is believed it went to Glasgow the day before.
Phones recovered from the pair showed Stephen Donald had brokered the deal but he maintained his innocence throughout the trial, saying he met Sellars to discuss the sale of a car.