Gang jailed over £400,000 Dundee drugs operation

Jailed: Top L to R, Richard Parvin and George McLean. Bottom L-R Neil Brown, Francis Ross snr and Francis Ross jr. John Cord and Craig Mitchell are not pictured.

A seven-man gang has been jailed for their part in a £400,000 drugs operation.

Richard Parvin, 38, Neil Brown, 34, Francis Ross Sr, 47, George McLean, 32, Francis Ross Jr, 22, Craig Mitchell, 30, and 34-year-old John Cord admitted involvement in the crime.

The drug trafficking occurred at a number of locations in 2019, mainly in Dundee.

They were jailed at the High Court in Glasgow.

Parvin was jailed for seven years and four months, Brown for three years, Ross Sr for two years and 10 months, and McLean for five years and five months.

Ross Jr was jailed for three-and-a-half years with Mitchell and Cord each sentenced to two years and two months.

The court heard detectives found hundreds of messages and photos linked to high-level dealing, in addition to drugs and cash.

In his sentencing remarks, Lord Weir said the "abhorrent" operation could have "caused considerable damage in the wider community".

Prosecutor Owen Mullan told a previous hearing that the crew were watched as part of the Operation Boost police probe.

Parvin was initially stopped in May 2019 in a car on the A90 Dundee to Perth road, where police seized £12,550 in cash.

His phone was seized, but he began to use another handset.

Street Valium

Mr Mullan: "This was later seized and showed various images of blocks of cocaine, high value tick-lists and hundreds of messages that he was actively involved in the supply of controlled drugs."

Detectives went on to make other drug raids linked to the probe.

This included a cocaine handover at Ross Jr's home in Dundee after he was met by McLean.

Police found £319,000 of the drug in a clothes shop bag as well as £10,000 of heroin.

Ross Sr's Dundee home was also raided, where a further £24,000 of heroin was discovered.

Brown was linked to drugs being found in a car in May 2019 after two men were seen running from the vehicle in the city.

The court was told £2,120 of heroin, and a batch of street Valium pills were found.

McLean was held in Easterhouse, Glasgow, and police initially found £12,000 in cash which he claimed was for a car.

Officers seized around £1,600 of heroin at two properties linked to him.

The group are all from Dundee apart from Parvin, of Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, and McLean, from Easterhouse in Glasgow.

Police Scotland welcomed the sentencing.

Det Ch Insp Iain McPhail, of the force's specialist crime division, said: "Following a complex investigation seven people are now in jail and no longer bringing drugs onto the streets and into our communities.

"We will not hesitate to tackle organised drug crime and Police Scotland is committed to bringing those responsible for the production and sale of drugs to justice.

"Drugs cause miseries in our communities and we urge anyone with information about drugs to get in touch."