A man who swallowed bags of heroin worth up to £56,000 then got himself arrested in a supermarket claimed he was not trying to smuggle the drugs into prison.
Darren Rachwal consumed bags containing a stash of the class A drug then went to Dundee’s Tesco Extra store on the Kingsway.
There, in the middle of the night, he filled up a trolley with a TV, an Xbox console and several DVDs.
He then walked to the exit having been watched all the way by staff.
Rachwal – who has 35 previous convictions, mostly for theft – made no attempt to flee when security staff apprehended him and took him back inside.
Depute fiscal Kirsten Thomson said police then took him to headquarters and placed him in a cell.
She said: “At 8.30am the next day G4S officers arrived to take him to court. A police officer attended his cell and found three large wraps containing powder sitting beside the cell toilet.
“The contents was later found to be heroin worth £11,000 in £10 street deals. Had it made its way in to prison it would have been worth around £56,000.”
Rachwal, 24, a prisoner at Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of theft committed at Tesco, Kingsway, Dundee, on October 31.
He further admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin at Bell Street police HQ the following day.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed Rachwal for two years and eight months. He said prosecutors were “neutral” over whether he intended to sell the drugs in prison.
