Ex-police inspector caught in £2m drugs swoop
- Published
Brown was caught as he tried to board a ferry at Cairnryan
A former police inspector has been convicted for his part in a £2m drug smuggling operation.
David Brown, 51, was caught in a truck while trying to board a ferry from Cairnryan to Northern Ireland in December 2018.
Police went on to seize cocaine, cannabis resin and herbal cannabis from the vehicle.
Prosecutors revealed that drugs were imported from Spain into Scotland hidden inside machinery.
Brown, of Carfin, North Lanarkshire, claimed he had been duped into trafficking the drugs.
He had been recruited by haulage firm boss Lawrence Phee, who ran the drugs gang.
Along with 52-year-old Patrick Hattie - an associate of Phee - Brown was convicted of being concerned in the supply of the three drugs at Cairnryan, Shotts, Coatbridge and elsewhere in Scotland between 1 November and 1 December 2018.
Phee, of Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in 2020 after he pled guilty to the same charges.
Reporting of that case had been banned until the end of Brown's trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Brown and Hattie, of Airdrie, were remanded in custody pending sentencing next month at the High Court in Livingston.
Brown was previously jailed in 2016 for fraud while a serving officer in the British Transport Police.
Innocent drivers
A court hearing last year was told that Phee directed the drugs operation from his base in North Lanarkshire.
Prosecutor Alan Cameron said: "The drugs were transported from the Alicante region of Spain to the UK with industrial machinery.
"These were most commonly generators and compressors.
"The drugs were hidden and then transported in lorry trailers run by a variety of individuals and companies.
"The drivers of the vehicles and the operators of the transport companies were, at times, unaware of the presence of drugs."
The court heard Phee arranged for approximately 15 shipments to be made from Spain into the UK and sometimes on to the Republic of Ireland.
Brown - who also knew Hattie - told jurors he had been offered work at short notice involving of a trip to Ireland using a van hired by Phee.
The vehicle was loaded by relative of Phee at the yard in Shotts.
Hattie had also denied being involved in the drug dealing. His QC had argued during the trial that Hattie had no case to answer and charges should be dropped.