Drug courier sentence .
Discussion
JAIL SENTENCE FOR MAN STOPPED ON M74 WITH £99,000 IN COCAINE
A man has been jailed today following a significant drugs seizure in Dumfries and Galloway.
James Wightman (67) was stopped on the M74 northbound near Moffat in July 2020, as part of an investigation led by the Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland), a joint team made up of officers from Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency.
The Ford Transit van he was driving was found to contain cocaine, with an estimated street value of nearly £99,000.
Wightman had previously pled guilty at Dumfries Sheriff Court to being concerned in the supply of drugs. Today, he was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment, reduced to 14 months for an early plea.
Intelligence about Wightman's activities had been obtained during Operation Venetic – regarded as the most significant ever UK operation into serious and organised crime involving Police Scotland, the National Crime Agency and police forces across the UK. Operation Venetic culminated in the taking down of a sophisticated encrypted communications service used by criminals.
Detective Inspector Tom Gillan, of the Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland) said: “This conviction and sentencing serves as yet another example of our ongoing commitment to target the supply and distribution of controlled drugs across Scotland, which remains an absolute priority for the Organised Crime Partnership and its partners.
I am shocked at how lenient the sentence was especially with the amount of Drugs involved .21 Years would have been better .
A man has been jailed today following a significant drugs seizure in Dumfries and Galloway.
James Wightman (67) was stopped on the M74 northbound near Moffat in July 2020, as part of an investigation led by the Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland), a joint team made up of officers from Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency.
The Ford Transit van he was driving was found to contain cocaine, with an estimated street value of nearly £99,000.
Wightman had previously pled guilty at Dumfries Sheriff Court to being concerned in the supply of drugs. Today, he was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment, reduced to 14 months for an early plea.
Intelligence about Wightman's activities had been obtained during Operation Venetic – regarded as the most significant ever UK operation into serious and organised crime involving Police Scotland, the National Crime Agency and police forces across the UK. Operation Venetic culminated in the taking down of a sophisticated encrypted communications service used by criminals.
Detective Inspector Tom Gillan, of the Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland) said: “This conviction and sentencing serves as yet another example of our ongoing commitment to target the supply and distribution of controlled drugs across Scotland, which remains an absolute priority for the Organised Crime Partnership and its partners.
I am shocked at how lenient the sentence was especially with the amount of Drugs involved .21 Years would have been better .
Edited by The big yin on Thursday 2nd September 18:18
The big yin said:
21 Years would have been better .
Why? drug laws in the UK are arbitrary."A new study found alcohol was the most dangerous of 20 legal and illegal drugs when the two criteria of harm to the user and harm to others were combined
ALCOHOL IS more dangerous than crack cocaine and heroin when damage to users themselves and to wider society are combined, a study has found.
The research, published yesterday in the Lancet medical journal, rated alcohol almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco and some eight times as harmful as ecstasy."
Link to full article.
NewChurch said:
ALCOHOL IS more dangerous than crack cocaine and heroin when damage to users themselves and to wider society are combined, a study has found.
Overall, probably yes. But that doesn't paint a true picture. It's like saying the average human has less than 2 legs, because loads of people have got one or none, but how many have 3 or 4? The average human does have less than 2 legs, but that wouldn't paint an accurate picture for an alien. Billions of people use alcohol responsibly, a glass of wine with their meal, a pint of beer. They drink from their teens until old age with no harm done to themselves or society. There are not millions of heroin users or crack cocaine users doing the same with their drug of choice.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Overall, probably yes. But that doesn't paint a true picture. It's like saying the average human has less than 2 legs, because loads of people have got one or none, but how many have 3 or 4? The average human does have less than 2 legs, but that wouldn't paint an accurate picture for an alien.
Billions of people use alcohol responsibly, a glass of wine with their meal, a pint of beer. They drink from their teens until old age with no harm done to themselves or society. There are not millions of heroin users or crack cocaine users doing the same with their drug of choice.
There are loads of functional addicts, often middle class professionals holding down considerable habits. Billions of people use alcohol responsibly, a glass of wine with their meal, a pint of beer. They drink from their teens until old age with no harm done to themselves or society. There are not millions of heroin users or crack cocaine users doing the same with their drug of choice.
Alcohol is a much bigger public health threat to this country, simply by virtue of the quantities in which it's consumed and the associated costs of healthcare, policing and social care.
This guy got caught with a fair amount, was probably just a courier and may well have given up people further up the chain. Sentence doesn't seem that unreasonable.
Dark Star said:
Very short sentence for that amount.
Bet there are a few more people that have been thrown under the wheels of his transit van to get what he got.
Does it say the amount? What was the actual weight?Bet there are a few more people that have been thrown under the wheels of his transit van to get what he got.
For shock value they always multiply out the per gram value, which is often nonsense for the person they caught.
NewChurch said:
The big yin said:
21 Years would have been better .
Why? drug laws in the UK are arbitrary."A new study found alcohol was the most dangerous of 20 legal and illegal drugs when the two criteria of harm to the user and harm to others were combined
ALCOHOL IS more dangerous than crack cocaine and heroin when damage to users themselves and to wider society are combined, a study has found.
The research, published yesterday in the Lancet medical journal, rated alcohol almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco and some eight times as harmful as ecstasy."
Link to full article.
No one needs cocaine. It is a purely recreational drug and is exclusively used as such. If you shove that s
t up your nose you are directly responsible for those deaths and the tyranies created by these people in the lesser developed parts of the world. No one should be dishonest enough to claim otherwise. TwigtheWonderkid said:
NewChurch said:
ALCOHOL IS more dangerous than crack cocaine and heroin when damage to users themselves and to wider society are combined, a study has found.
Overall, probably yes. But that doesn't paint a true picture. It's like saying the average human has less than 2 legs, because loads of people have got one or none, but how many have 3 or 4? The average human does have less than 2 legs, but that wouldn't paint an accurate picture for an alien. Billions of people use alcohol responsibly, a glass of wine with their meal, a pint of beer. They drink from their teens until old age with no harm done to themselves or society. There are not millions of heroin users or crack cocaine users doing the same with their drug of choice.
The big yin said:
JAIL SENTENCE FOR MAN STOPPED ON M74 WITH £99,000 IN COCAINE
A man has been jailed today following a significant drugs seizure in Dumfries and Galloway.
James Wightman (67) was stopped on the M74 northbound near Moffat in July 2020, as part of an investigation led by the Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland), a joint team made up of officers from Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency.
I am shocked at how lenient the sentence was especially with the amount of Drugs involved .21 Years would have been better .
21 years or tax payer funded revenge.A man has been jailed today following a significant drugs seizure in Dumfries and Galloway.
James Wightman (67) was stopped on the M74 northbound near Moffat in July 2020, as part of an investigation led by the Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland), a joint team made up of officers from Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency.
I am shocked at how lenient the sentence was especially with the amount of Drugs involved .21 Years would have been better .
And as soon as he out of the game someone else will replace him.
sugerbear said:
21 years or tax payer funded revenge.
And as soon as he out of the game someone else will replace him.
It's easy problem to solve; six months imprisonment for anyone caught with any amount of Cocaine. No arguments, no early release. Then doubling for each subsequent offence. There will be no market for it within weeks. The problem will evaporate. And as soon as he out of the game someone else will replace him.
AJL308 said:
sugerbear said:
21 years or tax payer funded revenge.
And as soon as he out of the game someone else will replace him.
It's easy problem to solve; six months imprisonment for anyone caught with any amount of Cocaine. No arguments, no early release. Then doubling for each subsequent offence. There will be no market for it within weeks. The problem will evaporate. And as soon as he out of the game someone else will replace him.
10s of billions have been spent on prohibition of drugs and as a result of all that money and effort we have achieved 2 things:
1) any one who wants any drugs can get them when ever they want
2) global criminal organisations worth trillion of $ have been created and often fund other dodgy activities
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