A multi-million pound cocaine courier caught in Dundee has been jailed for five years.
Dylan Nicol was pursued by police from the city’s outskirts, reaching up to 120mph, and even kept driving after stinger device punctured his tyres.
When he was eventually brought to a stop, officers discovered £2.4 million of the deadly Class-A drug in his car.
Nicol, 24, from Dundee, pled guilty to being concerned in the drugs’ supply and dangerous driving and was sentenced at the High Court in Inverness by judge Lady Hood.
She heard how he started taking drugs at the age of 14 and built up a significant debt which he was servicing by transporting the drugs in Tayside.
Police chase
The High Court in Edinburgh heard previously how Nicol was driving to Dundee from Perth on February 19 this year when three marked police cars surrounded him at Longforgan.
He managed to get away and sped towards the Kingsway, continuing at 80mph on burst tyres even after driving over the stinger, laid at the Swallow Roundabout.
When the car finally stopped, Nicol fled on foot but was quickly captured.
A search of the car revealed a cardboard box containing 13 taped block packages which specialist officers later verified as being cocaine with a street value of £2,470,000 if divided into one-gram packages.
Detectives found cocaine with a purity of 79% – nearly double the average on Tayside at the time.
Nicol appeared via videolink to prison to hear his agent Mike Chapman, say the transport was “performed under pressure to avoid harm to himself and to members of his family and also to clear the debt.”
He went on: “It is clear that Mr Nicol suffered a traumatic childhood.
“His parents separated when he was approximately 7 and he was brought up, along with his brother, by his mother who suffered from longstanding addiction issues which seem to have dominated Mr Nichol’s childhood.
“Mr Nicol, when was was 11, witnessed the murder of his great uncle.”
“He started smoking cannabis at the age of 14 and his use increased to the extent that latterly he was spending a significant amount of money daily.”
Mr Chapman said this was not an issue until he lost his job he started obtaining cannabis on credit and incurred a drugs debt.
“The person he considered to be a friend wasn’t as well disposed toward him as he thought and started making threats toward him and his family.
“He pointed out to Mr Nicol that he knew where his mother lived
“He agreed to clear the debt by transporting drugs to Dundee on the day in question.
“He did not look into the box and assumed that they were in fact cannabis because it was a cannabis debt”
Mr Chapman said this position was borne out by the fact that Nicol’s fingerprints were found only on the outside of the box and not on packages within.
He added: “Nothing can justify his prolonged and highly irresponsible attempt to escape from the police.”
‘High likelihood’ of re-offending
Lady Hood referenced a pre-sentencing report concluding there was a “high likelihood” of re-offending if Nicol does not remain free from cannabis on release and does not change his attitude towards driving.
She said: “The very substantial quantity and value of class A drug you were carry means that the harm is at the highest level.”
She noted he has never obtained a driving licence and had three previous disqualifications.
“Your only explanation for you driving is that you panicked.
“This was a prolonged incident where you drive dangerously on a major road, swerving in and out of traffic at excessive speed”
The jail term was made up of four years for the drug offence and one for the driving, to run consecutively.
Lady Hood also disqualified him for seven-and-a-half years
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