William O'Brien jailed over £2.5m cannabis haul on M74
A man who was caught with cannabis resin potentially worth £2.5m has been jailed for five years and four months.
William O'Brien, 31, from Glasgow, was caught with 2,920 bars of the drug in a minibus he was driving on the M74, near Hamilton Services, on 13 December 2011.
He later admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis in a bid to clear a drug debt of £800.
At the High Court in Glasgow, O'Brien was told he would have been jailed for eight years but for his guilty plea.
During an earlier hearing, the court heard that police, acting on a tip-off, ordered the minibus to pull over on the northbound M74 at about 18:30.
Boxes of drugs
O'Brien, from Glasgow's Springboig area, was driving and two other men were sitting in the back of the vehicle.
Prosecutor Paul Kearney said officers spotted several red cardboard boxes inside.
He added: "These were positioned between the various rows of seats and along the length of the floor from the passenger side to the rear doors."
O'Brien later gave no comment when asked if there were drugs inside the vehicle.
A large quantity of cannabis resin was eventually discovered weighing a total of 292 kilos.