A man caught smuggling £1million worth of cocaine - embossed with the Twitter logo - into Scotland via a secret compartment in the back of a van has been jailed for six years.
Kurtis James Taylor was pulled over while driving a black Vauxhall Vivaro van on the M74, near Lesmahagow, on September 5, 2023, following intelligence that there were a significant quantity of drugs on board.
When the van was taken to Coatbridge police station it was discovered, with the help of a sniffer dog, that there was a hidden compartment in the back operated with a modified key fob.
A total of ten block-shaped packages – embossed with a Twitter logo - were discovered inside and were later found to be cocaine.
The drugs – which weighed around 10kg – held an approximate street value of between £801,840 and £1,002,300 if cut up for sale.
DNA belonging to Kurtis and another individual, who has not been identified, were discovered on the packaging.
Taylor, 30 and from Liverpool, appeared at Glasgow High Court on Wednesday, May 15, where admitted being involved in the supply of the Class A drug.
On July 23, at the same court, he was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
Read More:
-
Two men convicted of rape and murder of 24-year-old man in Fife
-
Teen charged after 'stolen' car involved in police chase in Edinburgh
Moira Orr, who leads on homicide and major crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said:
“This was a sophisticated effort to bring significant quantities of illegal and harmful drugs across the border from England.
“Kurtis Taylor will now serve a significant prison sentence thanks to the intelligence-led police operation and work by prosecutors.
“We are determined to disrupt serious and organised crime.
“We are targeting all people who threaten communities across Scotland, from drug couriers to those who direct their movements.
“With each case of this kind, we can help reduce the harm these drugs inflict on those communities.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here