Drugs gang jailed

Sam Rodriguez, 29, from Dumfries, was given eight years at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday — having flooded parts of the region with heroin as head of a local crime group.
Police ran an eight-month undercover investigation into a drugs supply network in Dumfries and Galloway and have hailed the convictions, describing the ‘misery’ brought to towns and villages across the region.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty along with his supplier Karl Hart, 36, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, who was given seven-and-a-half years.
Sentencing on courier Geoffrey Hirst, 40, also from the Merseyside area, was adjourned.
However, the recipient of one of the drugs packages, Robert Crosbie, 31, from Dumfries, was sentenced to three years.
Operation Woodson identified members of a local ‘serious and organised crime group under the control of Rodriguez’, with searches at addresses in Dumfries leading to the arrest of ‘sub-dealers’.
* Craig Gordon, 36, from Dumfries, was sentenced to two years.
* Thomas Flynn, 28,from Dumfries, was sentenced to 15 months.
* Shaun Ballard, 27, from Annan, was sentenced to 20 months.
* Danny Ballard, 27, from Annan, was sentenced to 14 months.
* Ashleigh Skelton, 20, from Kirkpatrick Fleming, was sentenced to four months.
* Callum Skelton, 22, from Kirkpatrick Fleming, was sentenced to three months.
* Alexander Glancey from Glasgow was sentenced to three years.
Drugs with a combined ‘street value’ of £110,000 were recovered in Dumfries and Galloway as well as over £14,000 in cash, while drugs worth a further £70,000 were recovered from an address in Glasgow.
DI Mark Carruthers from Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division said: “The amount of misery that this type of activity brings to the streets of towns and villages across Dumfries and Galloway doesn’t bear thinking about and the effect that drugs has on our communities can be far reaching.
“Thankfully our communities are standing up to this filthy trade and letting us know when and where it is happening and we are thankful for that.
“Only when we all stand together can we hope to make a serious impression on the supply of illegal drugs and I would encourage anyone to pick up the phone and call us on 101 if they have any information which might help.”