Gambling debt 'drugs mule' Garry Curran jailed
A man from Glasgow who agreed to deliver a batch of high-purity cocaine to pay off a £3,000 gambling debt has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Garry Curran, 44, was caught with one kilo of the drug, worth up to £576,000 when cut, after police stopped his car in Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire.
He admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine on 1 June.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Burns said it was "surprising" a man of Curran's age had got involved.
Solicitor advocate Des Finnieston, defending, told the court how father-of-three Curran had kept a £3,000 gambling debt secret from his family.
He said his client was approached outside a bookmaker's shop by men who made on offer "to him of a way out of the particular financial strait he was in".
The court heard how Curran was stopped by officers from the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency on the Glasgow to East Kilbride road at the Belle Craig roundabout in Eaglesham.
He told detectives who questioned him about the bag in the vehicle: "I knew there was something dodgy in it."
Curran claimed he did not know exactly what was in the bag but experts said the 1.16 kilos of cocaine, with a purity of 72% could fetch up to £576,000 if broken down into street deals.
Jailing Curran, Lord Burns told him: "It is both surprising and disappointing that a man of your age and history should contemplate getting involved in such activity."