The managing director of a kitchen company has been jailed for more than six years for his part in a £10 million cocaine smuggling operation.
David Mullarkey was one of four men sentenced to a total of 22 year after cops uncovered a large quantity of the drug when they raided the premises of DM Kitchens in Hillington, Renfrewshire.
The high-purity class-A drug had been stowed in an HGV that was meant to be carrying Belgian waffles in June 2019.
Mullarkey, of Fourth Avenue in Stepps, was caught red-handed along with James Davidson, 58, of Yoker in Glasgow, and cousins Ellis Hardy, 42, and Wayne Smith, 39, both from Mitcham in Surrey.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the organised crime gang were preparing to move the cocaine consignment, which had a purity of up to 84 per cent, to a modified van with a concealed compartment when police foiled them.
Hardy was being closely watched by police and was seen in the Transit van along with Smith the day before the drugs were recovered on June 22.
Davidson had driven the drugs, which were up to 84 per cent pure, to the Hillington kitchens showroom in the HGV.
Cops etimated that the if mixed with cutting agents and sold in street deals the cocaine would be worth around £9.96m.
All four had already entered guilty pleas to facilitating the transportation and distribution of the drug.
Lord Boyd of Duncansby said there had been a significant amount of planning.
Passing sentence, he said: “Serious organised crime poses a threat to us all.
"The trafficking of Class A drugs is a particular scourge to our society.”
Forty-seven-year-old Mullarkey's defence counsel told the court in mitigation that his client had been in serious financial difficulties due to his kitchen business and thought the consignment contained designer clothing, rather than drugs.
The court was also told that Davidson was shocked to hear of the valuation placed on the consignment.
And that he was assessed as posing a low likelihood of further offending and was of no risk to the public.
Judge Lord Boyd sentenced Mullarkey and Davidson to six years and three months each for their roles in the operation. Hardy was imprisoned for five years while Smith was handed down a four-and-a-half year jail term.
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