Jailed drugs smuggler loses home
A convicted drugs smuggler has been forced to sell his home to pay a Proceeds of Crime order.
Cameron McFarlane, from Alloa in Clackmannanshire, was told to pay £39,800 after Central Scotland Police applied for a Confiscation Order.
The 48-year-old was jailed last year for smuggling cocaine from France with an estimated street value of £7m.
Police caught McFarlane with 15kg (33lb) of drugs in his lorry on the M80 near Falkirk in October 2008.
It was the largest drug seizure ever made by Central Scotland Police.
The lorry driver was jailed for five years and four months.
Police said he had now sold his home in Alloa to pay the Confiscation Order in full, granted by the High Court in Edinburgh in June last year.
Det Insp Charlie Mitchell, head of the force's Drugs and Organised Crime Unit, said: "This shows that we will use what legislation we can to claw back assets which have been gained through criminal activity and that the matter is not closed when the accused is convicted.
"The fact the McFarlane was forced to sell his home means we are serious when we say we will look at all avenues of disrupting the lifestyles of criminals.
"We will take what assets we can from them and this should go out as a warning to others."
The cocaine found in McFarlane's lorry was found to be seven times more pure than usually found in central Scotland.
Police officers found large blocks of the drug hidden in McFarlane's pillow and stuffed into a microwave in his truck's cab.
He said he had smuggled the drug to pay off his debts to a criminal gang.