An Angus drug dealer who tried to smuggle thousands of pounds worth of illicit substances disguised as pet food into Scotland has been imprisoned for more than four years.
Packages addressed to Toby Bishop, 21 – known to customers as Maverick the Speedy – were sent from Germany and declared as cat food.
When UK Border force officers inspected one of the parcels, they found ecstasy tablets estimated to have a street value of £84,430 if sold in £10 batches.
Forestry worker Bishop pled guilty to two charges of being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs and was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday.
He was jailed for 50 months.
Lord Braid said: “A significant custodial sentence is the only sentence available to the court.”
Angus house raid
The court heard previously the packages were opened in July 2022 at the Coventry International postal hub and were labelled Adult Brakes Cat Food.
Officials discovered around 8,400 ecstasy tablets.
Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) raided Bishop’s home at Glenogil, near Forfar, in August 2022 and found bags of cannabis in a bedroom and cannabis plants being grown inside a polytunnel in the garden.
The cannabis had a total potential value of £11,250.
Bishop’s phone was later analysed and found to contain images of plants growing in the tunnel as well as drug price lists.
Prosecutor David Dickson previously told the court: “Chat conversations between July 1 2022 and August 3 2022 were recovered from the accused’s phone which disclose he went by the name ‘Maverick the Speedy’ and offered to sell pills and cannabis.
“Documents were recovered from the phone including price lists for controlled drugs, information on poly tunnel construction, how to grow cannabis and one showing the effects of ecstasy.
“A search of the browser history of the phone disclosed three searches were made in relation to freezing MDMA.”
Defence solicitor advocate Kris Gilmartin said Bishop’s involvement in the drugs trade was limited and his client was paid just £100 to have the ecstasy delivered to his home.
On Monday, Mr Gilmartin the background report made it clear Bishop had been abusing cannabis from a very young age and moved onto harder drugs like ecstasy and LSD.
Sentence welcomed by authorities
Moira Orr, who leads on homicide and major crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “This was an attempt to bring a significant quantity of illegal and harmful drugs to Scotland through a brazen deception.
“This man is now serving a prison sentence following a multi-agency operation to investigate and prosecute the supply of controlled drugs.
“We are targeting all people who threaten communities across Scotland, not only drug couriers but also those who direct their movements.
“With each case of this kind, we can help reduce the harm these drugs inflict on those communities.”
Detective Chief Inspector Steven Elliott of Police Scotland, said: “This conviction and sentencing sends a clear message to anyone who is involved in organised crime that the supply of illegal substances will not be tolerated in our communities.”
NCA Scotland Operations Manager Rob Miles said: “Toby Bishop made only futile attempts to hide his delivery of MDMA tablets, using cat food in the hopes of avoiding detection.
“MDMA can be an extremely potent drug and this amount of tablets reaching the streets of Scotland could have had a catastrophic impact on our communities.”
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.
