A drug gang member from Scotland has been handed an 18-month sentence after being caught in a National Crime Agency sting that brought down a £1.1million cross-country drugs factory.
Stephen King, 49, of Dumbarton, was snared as a lackey in a drugs ring headed up by so-called 'kingpin' Terence Earle. The group trafficked truckloads of heroin and cocaine between Merseyside and Scotland, and was geared up to produce methamphetamine on an "industrial scale" at a secret lab in Motherwell.
But the operation unravelled after King was caught meeting with co-conspirator Stanley Feerick in November 2020 during NCA sting Operation Joyfully. Shortly after the meeting, Feerick was arrested driving a lorry that contained a holdall packed with heroin worth £300,000 and £20,000 in cash.
