A former soldier who turned to drugs after serving in the Gulf War was jailed for almost seven years for his part in a nationwide drug-dealing operation.
Daniel Boag, 46, was among five men four of them from Dundee who were sentenced to a total of more than 25 years behind bars at the High Court in Edinburgh.
The team was caught by undercover police, who trailed hired cars and vans used to ferry drugs across Scotland and seized cocaine and amphetamine worth a total of more than £300,000.
Boag, of Tweed Crescent, Menzieshill, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of amphetamine and was jailed for six years and eight months.
The court heard he already has a record for drug and firearm offences.
Defence advocate Frank Gallagher said a medical report explained the start of Boag’s amphetamine habit came after the combat of the early 1990s.
Judge Lord Brailsford also sentenced Grant Carnegie, 46, Balunie Avenue, to four and a half years imprisonment and Andrew Cox, 24, Cortachy Crescent, Broughty Ferry, to five years and nine months.
Both also pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of amphetamine and Cox further admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
Stephen Hutton, 33, Barnes Avenue, was jailed for three years and nine months after admitting being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
Philip Guthrie, 65, who said he was homeless but has a house in Inchgarvie Park, South Queensferry, also admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and was jailed for four and a half years.
Advocate depute Andrew Brown QC, prosecuting, told how in August last year Tayside Police were given a tip-off that Andrew Cox was involved in the supply of drugs between Glasgow and Dundee.
He was the man who paid the bills when Grant Carnegie hired vehicles and drove to Glasgow or Motherwell. Officers trailed Boag’s white MG, raided his home and found a rucksack full of amphetamine, worth a possible £218,900.
More amphetamine was found in the white MG, worth another £64,510. A month later, another tip-off alerted police to a delivery of cocaine heading Cox’s way.
Stephen Hutton picked him up and drove him to Dundee’s Riverside Drive, where Guthrie was waiting in a parked Volvo.
Cox picked up a carrier bag and was stopped by police while carrying £1,266.50 and two packets of cocaine, worth a street value of £24,430.
The court heard Cox had been running his own business until he became a victim of the recession and was left with debts.
Hutton acted as a courier, thinking he was doing a favour for a friend, while former bus driver Carnegie was also trying to clear debts after being made redundant.
Guthrie had been a landscape gardener who began taking amphetamine and had then turned to cocaine and was in debt to his supplier.
Following his conviction last month, Boag told how he had patrolled the deserts of the Middle East and the jungles of Central America while serving his country. He claims he was threatened into dealing the drugs because he owed money.