Drug trafficking gang jailed

The three men ran a drugs operation in Aberdeen

Three drug dealers who ran an organised heroin trafficking operation in Aberdeen have been jailed for a total of 27 years.

The men were warned they would have faced even tougher sentences if they had not pleaded guilty.

John Jamieson, 30, Alan Groves, 24 and 23-year-old Graham Elrick admitted supplying hard drugs when they appeared in court in Edinburgh.

Trial judge Lord Kingarth said that without the guilty pleas the sentences would have totalled 33 years.

You have pled guilty to being concerned in the supply at an organised and significant level of three different Class A drugs, involving the supply of those drugs to dealers Lord Kingarth

Jamieson had supplied heroin, cocaine and ecstasy to various dealers and was jailed for 12 years.

Groves and Elrick were jailed for nine and six years respectively.

Lord Kingarth told ex-car dealer Jamieson, who was dealing in hard drugs for two years in Aberdeen up until May 2003, that without his admission he would have been jailed for 14 years.

He was arrested in June and admitted responsibility for drugs worth up to £260,000.

Lord Kingarth told Jamieson, of Caiesdykes Crescent, Aberdeen: "You have pled guilty to being concerned in the supply at an organised and significant level of three different Class A drugs, involving the supply of those drugs to dealers."

Groves, a father-of-three of Provost Fraser Drive, Aberdeen, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin over a 10-month period.

He had made twice-weekly drug runs and handled £188,000 worth of heroin.

Elrick, of Westburn Road, Aberdeen, also admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin with a potential value of £90,000.