Birnam man charged with attempting to bring £1m of cocaine into UK

A Perthshire man has appeared in court charged with smuggling around £1 million worth of cocaine into the UK.

Clive Gillies (45), of Tower Buildings, Station Road, Birnam, faces a charge that he was involved in the importation of 9,924 grams of a class A drug cocaine hydrochloride at the freight control centre in Coquelles, near Calais, France, on May 29 last year.

Gillies made no plea and was released on unconditional bail at Folkestone Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The Crown asked for more time to prepare papers for the case and Gillies will appear before magistrates at the same court on April 4.

It is understood the alleged drugs find was carried out by Border Force officers at Coquelles, near the entrance to the Channel Tunnel. It is estimated that the drugs could have had a potential street value of approximately £1m.