A man who helped others operate a multi-million pound smuggling operation that trafficked heroin and cocaine from South America to Scotland has been jailed for five years.
Stephen Gough, 47, was sentenced at the High Court in Paisley after being found guilty following a trial of being concerned in Serious Organised Crime between March and June 2020 in Uddingston and elsewhere.
He was also made subject of a Serious Crime Prevention Order lasting three years designed to prevent his return to crime on his release from custody.
Encrypted calls on the Encrochat phone platform used by criminals tied Gough into drug-dealing conversations with jailed co-accused Tony Bennett between March 2020 and June 2020.
Bennett, 35, was imprisoned for three years and nine months in September 2023 for being concerned in Serious Organised Crime between during the same period.
He was convicted of using secret laboratories to refine the drugs from Ecuador before supplying and selling them to dealers throughout Scotland.
Gough, of Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, was responsible for overseeing the money that was collected through the supply of imported Class A drugs.
His role was to ensure that cash from drug dealers was properly collected and counted.
Sineidin Corrins, Deputy Procurator Fiscal for Specialist Casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “Stephen Gough was an integral part of an international cartel along with others to import large quantities of Class A drugs into Scotland.
“These drugs would have caused immense harm. But with these convictions, we have removed these drugs from the streets and made communities safer.
“This successful prosecution reinforces our determination to continue to disrupt serious organised crime.
“We will continue to collaborate with our partners as a member of Scotland’s Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce to tackle serious organised crime and this kind of case highlights the extensive work that has been ongoing against these groups.”
Prosecutors sifted through hundreds of Encrochat conversations which proved that Gough and Bennett were using pseudonyms to talk to each other about drug dealing.
Gough denied he was the user of the Encrochat handle.
However, images were posted on handles showing the interior of his home and even of himself.
Another revealed they had approximately £217,000 in a bank account.
Gough also posted an image showing large amounts of bundled bank notes lying on his kitchen floor.
He was arrested in August 2021 following a police raid on his home.
Gough will now be the subject of confiscation action under Proceeds of Crime laws to recover monies illegally obtained.