Cocaine gang jailed for 36 years

Paul Fitzgerald imported the drugs from Bolivia

A Canadian who organised an international cocaine smuggling operation in Edinburgh has been jailed for nine years and seven months.

Paul Fitzgerald, 32, travelling on a false passport, had the drug sent from Bolivia in the drawers of toy furniture, a court heard on Friday.

Police seized cocaine with a street value of £60,000 and LSD worth £4,500.

At the High Court in Edinburgh five other members of the drugs ring were sentenced to a total of 26 years.

Judge Lord Hardie said he would recommend that Fitzgerald and Vito Carmona, 20, from Barcelona, should be deported once they have served their time.

Toy cabinets

Passing sentence, Lord Hardie told them: "People who become involved in dealing in controlled drugs must accept some of the responsibility for contributing to society's problems."

At an earlier hearing the judge was told how drug squad officers raided a flat in the Gorgie area of the city following a tip-off.

The court heard that at another city address police found tiny wooden drawers and learned that cocaine had come from Bolivia hidden in the toy cabinets.

The gang were involved in supplying cocaine in Edinburgh

A parcel still in transit was intercepted at a Royal Mail depot. It contained more packages of the drug.

Fitzgerald, the court heard, would arrange for a parcel to be sent to a bogus address where it could not be delivered.

When the parcel went back to the depot he would go to collect it, using his false passport.

All of the men, who appeared as first offenders, were told that their sentences would have been higher if they had not admitted what they had done.

Carmona, 20, from Gorgie Road, Edinburgh, received six-and-a-half years' detention after admitting being concerned in the supply of cocaine and LSD.

Obstructing police

James Tunstall, 18, of Greenbank Crescent, Edinburgh, was sentenced to three years' detention after he admitted being involved in cocaine supply on one day only.

Colin Adam, 25, formerly of St Stephen Street, Edinburgh, got seven-and-a-half years after he pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and obstructing police by throwing it out of his window.

Christopher Batt, 20, of Erskine Way, Livingston, and Ross Sharp, 18, of Ulster Crescent, Edinburgh, both received four-and-a-half years' detention for being concerned in the supply of cocaine.