Jail for drugs pair caught in police Covid check in Aberdeen

Two men caught involved in a drug deal after police stopped them to check their journey during Covid restrictions have been jailed.

Stuart Kelly, 43 and Daniel Pratt, 40, were stopped in Aberdeen in car registered to Fraserburgh last March.

Driver Pratt was described as "nervous". Heroin with a potential value of about £12,000 was later found.

Kelly was jailed for five years and 219 days and Pratt was sentenced to three years and nine months.

Kelly, of Fraserburgh, and Pratt, of Sandhaven, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin.

Prosecutor Chris Fyffe previously told the High Court in Glasgow: "Police stopped the vehicle to find out the purposes of the journey which was during Covid-19 restrictions."

Passenger Kelly was seen to throw a bag into the back seat.

• Drug deal foiled by police Covid journey check

Pratt said that he was in Aberdeen to visit a friend, but could not give a name of the person or where they lived.

Officers found the bag contained a bulking agent substance for drugs to increase value. Heroin was later found hidden in the car including a package in the lining of the roof.

Mr Fyffe said two phones were also seized, with messages "indicative of being involved in the supply of controlled drugs".

It was Kelly's third conviction for class A drug trafficking.

Defence counsel David Moggach said Kelly had turned to drugs having previously been hospitalised for six months due to a house fire and then losing his fishing job.

Meanwhile the court heard Pratt told social workers doing a pre-sentencing report that he was clueless as to why the journey was made that night.

Bill Adam, defending, said Pratt now wanted to "apologise" for what was said and that he had been "nervous" at the interview.

Judge Douglas Brown told them: "Trafficking class A drugs is a serious offence due to the potential damage it can cause communities."