Renfrew taxi driver jailed over Lockerbie cocaine haul
A taxi driver caught ferrying high purity cocaine with a street value of £300,000 has been jailed for 32 months.
Thomas Haggerty, 30, of Renfrew, was stopped by police near Lockerbie, in Dumfriesshire, as he drove the consignment of Class A drugs north.
He was found to have 2kg of cocaine after he was stopped by officers on 28 July last year.
A court heard it was nearly 60% pure and could have produced about 8kg of street-strength drugs.
That meant it had the potential to be worth £312,000.
A judge told Haggerty at the High Court in Edinburgh: "The trafficking in Class A drugs is a vile and evil trade bringing misery to individuals and communities."
Lord Boyd of Duncansby said: "You have a limited record and from what I have read a good work ethos."
However, the judge said that the amount of cocaine involved in the seizure was "not insignificant".
He told Haggerty he would have jailed him for four years if he had been convicted after trial, but said the sentence would be reduced following his guilty plea.
Haggerty had earlier admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine on the A74(M) Carlisle to Glasgow road.
The court heard that police saw him driving in the northbound carriageway and were aware of intelligence that he was carrying drugs from the Merseyside area to Scotland.
Haggerty was alone in the vehicle when it was stopped.
Defence counsel Paul Nelson said Haggerty had acted as a courier on one day after finding himself in "a difficult position".