Crime gang members have complained that Covid is a ‘disaster’ for cocaine sales – STV News

Two members of a criminal gang have complained about how the coronavirus has affected the high-level drug trade.

Craig Garland, 37, and Brandon Guthrie, 31, admitted their involvement in a leading Dundee-based mafia which planned to flood Scotland with cocaine.

The two are trapped in the police investigation Operation Ranger.

They are said to have been working on the orders of gang boss Ronald Ferry, who later died in 2021.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that police had information that Ferry was involved in large-scale drug trafficking in Scotland.

The gang was caught after authorities cracked down on the criminals’ preferred phone network, EncroChat.

The reports reveal that Guthrie was responsible for transporting “significant quantities” of drugs and collecting payments.

Garland helped store, prepare and bundle the drugs to maximize profits.

Gang boss Ferry was known as ‘northjoshua’ on EncroChat, Garland ‘surlybuster’ and Guthrie ‘summernorth’.

The contract involves chats for high-purity cocaine, valued at £41,000 a kilo.

At one point, Guthrie moaned to Garland that in April 2020, at the height of the COVID lockdown, the coronavirus had “resulted in a £400,000 reduction in income” for their criminal associates.

It was described as “a hell of a disaster”.

It also emerged that at one stage Ferry owed £250,000.

The court heard that Garland and Guthrie were part of more than 2,000 “chat lines” on the web discussing their criminal activities.

Police raided Guthrie’s home on October 30, 2020.

A Peugeot van was parked outside. The car was later found to be registered to Ferry.

Metal plates for a hydraulic press – often used to prepare and package drugs – were found in the van.

Garland’s home was also searched. Around £2,000 was seized from a well-known drug dealer.

A cell phone was found with text messages linking it to drug distribution.

Mr Parffery: “There are also reports indicating that another senior member of the group installed trackers on vehicles so that the movements of Guthrie and associates could be tracked as a form of job surveillance.”

Police also seized £23,000 worth of cocaine, as well as a 20-tonne hydraulic press.

The pair, both from Dundee, admitted charges of being involved in serious organized crime as well as supplying cocaine.

Garland was between March and October 2020, while Guthrie’s role only lasted from March to June of that year.

Both were granted bail but remanded in custody by Judge Lord Arthurson.

The pair will be sentenced next month.

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