A drug dealer who tried to flood the streets of Fife and central Scotland with ecstasy tablets has been jailed for four years.
Connor Smith was sentenced at Edinburgh High Court on Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to two charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
The 25-year-old was caught after police received intelligence which linked him to the supply of MDMA in the central belt.
Officers carried out enforcement activity at addresses in Clackmannan, Kirkcaldy and Rosyth which saw them recover £350,000 worth of MDMA tablets and crystals.
A pill press with Smith’s fingerprints on it was found at a house in Clackmannanshire alongside ecstasy in powder form and 65kg of a bulking agent.
It was established that the bulking agent had the potential to make 234,000 ecstasy tablets with a street value of around £2.34m.
The powdered ecstasy had an estimated potential of earning Smith between £390,000 and £1.3m.
Smith’s fingerprints were also found on a bag of drugs during another seizure which took place on the A92 near Kirkcaldy on May 3 last year.
Officers pulled over a black Renault Megane which contained 11,000 ecstasy tablets and a kilo of MDMA in crystalline form. The seizure had a potential street value of £100,000.
The car’s driver, Ian Hildersely, 28, a former Scotland under-21 basketball star from Kirkcaldy, was jailed for four years in September 2018.
Police caught up with Smith on August 24 when a car he was travelling in was stopped in Admiralty Road in Rosyth. Officers found 2000 ecstasy tablets in his possession.
Smith, a prisoner at HMP Barlinnie, Glasgow, admitted being involved in the supply of ecstasy between July 2017 and October 2018.
Detective Sergeant Jamie Hughes from Forth Valley Proactive CID said: “Connor Smith profited from selling harmful MDMA to communities in Forth Valley and Fife and his arrest was only possible thanks to vital intelligence we received from the public.
“His sentence should serve as a very clear reminder that tackling all forms of serious and organised crime, which includes drug offences, is a Police Scotland priority and we will utilise all resources at its disposal to bring those responsible to justice.
“Our communities have a pivotal role to play in helping us tackle crimes of this nature by coming forward with information.
“This can be done either by calling us on 101, or by making an anonymous report to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
