A Fife drugs mule who had £50,000 of cannabis and a child in his car when he was stopped by police on the Queensferry Crossing was being threatened over a gambling debt, a court has heard.
Dale Kennedy’s Kia Sportage was moved to a safer location at Ferry Toll Road, Rosyth, where a search recovered 5kg of the class B drug.
The 30-year-old, of Den Walk, Buckhaven, appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court after earlier pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis on July 2 last year.
Defence lawyer Aime Allan said Kennedy became embroiled in the offending due to “a gambling debt” which “resulted in him receiving quite significant threats” and led to him being tasked with collecting a package.
Referencing a social work report, Ms Allan said Kennedy did not know what was in the package until he collected it and “recognised the smell” when it was in the car.
The solicitor said Kennedy was “frightened” of those who asked him to collect it but understands he was concerned in the supply of the drug.
Arguing for a non-custodial sentence, she said it is Kennedy’s first offence of this type and social work assessed him as being low risk of reoffending.
Sheriff Susan Duff gave father-of-three Kennedy an eight-month restriction of liberty order, meaning he must stay at home between 7pm and 7am daily.
Bridge bust
During an earlier hearing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, prosecutor Sarah Smith said police received intelligence an occupant of a black Kia Sportage was suspected to be in possession of controlled drugs and driving from the Edinburgh area to Fife on July 2 last year.
At around 8pm, the car was seen travelling on the Queensferry Crossing and police stopped it.
Officers approached and noted a “strong smell of cannabis” emanating from it, the fiscal said.
Kennedy’s partner was in the front passenger seat and a five-year-old child was in the back.
Kennedy was detained and the car was moved to a safer location to be searched.
Two bags of cannabis – one containing 3kg of the drug and the other containing 2kg – were found.
The fiscal depute said the total wholesale value of the drugs was £25,000 but, if subdivided, had a potential maximum value of £50,000.
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