Renton man jailed over Gretna motorway heroin haul
A former army driver caught carrying heroin with a street value of £440,000 has been jailed for 45 months.
Paul Morris, 24, of Main Street, Renton, West Dunbartonshire, admitted being concerned in supplying heroin on the A74(M) near Gretna Services.
The High Court in Glasgow heard he was stopped by police and his hired Vauxhall Astra searched.
Judge Lord Bracadale told him: "Couriers who are caught must expect significant prison sentences."
The court heard how when Morris was stopped and spoken to by police in March this year he appeared "very evasive and nervous".
They then found bags in the boot of his car which contained heroin with an estimated street value of £446,360.
Solicitor advocate Liam O'Donnell said: "Mr Morris accepts that heroin is a drug which causes misery in the community.
"A high value of heroin was found in the car, but his position is that he did not know the value of the drugs or what he was carrying."
Mr O'Donnell said that Morris had been a driver in the British Army for four and a half years and between May and August this year he was working for the US Army in Kuwait.
The solicitor advocate added: "He started gambling and experimenting with cocaine and that is why he became involved in this offence."
Lord Bracadale told Morris: "You have pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin.
"You were acting as a courier for a large consignment of heroin.
"It is unfortunate that someone with a genuinely good record should get involved in this."
Morris was told that but for his early plea of guilty he would have been jailed for five years.