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Two Paisley men have narrowly avoided a jail term after being caught with cannabis worth almost £15,000.
Stephen Colquhoun and David McCalman were snared when drugs imported from the United States were seized by UK Border Force addressed to each of their homes.
The drug-dealing duo both admitted to being concerned in the supply of cannabis, a Class-B drug, between October 31, 2022 and January 12, 2023.
Procurator fiscal depute Michael Cunningham previously told Paisley Sheriff Court: “On December 1, 2023, a package was seized by UK Border Force at Langley in England containing herbal cannabis.
“The package was addressed to McCalman’s home in Brediland Road.
“On January 6, 2023, a package was seized by UK Border Force at Coventry in England containing herbal cannabis.
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“The package was addressed to the home address of Colquhoun in Todholm Terrace in Paisley.
“After these seizures, warrants were sought for three different properties including the two addresses of the accused men.”
The court heard cops raided Colquhoun’s home on January 12 last year and carried out a search.
A bag of green herbal material was recovered from the living room coffee table; a vacuum bag of green herbal material was on the kitchen table in a FedEx box; cannabis-branded packaging was also found alongside digital scales, FedEx and Royal Mail paperwork and other drug paraphernalia.
A total of £2,100 in mixed notes was recovered alongside a number of mobile phones and quantities of bagged cannabis in Colquhoun’s home.
At the same time that 33-year-old Colquhoun’s property was being raided, cops also attended 31-year-old McCalman’s home and an address in Whiteford Road in Paisley which is where McCalman’s partner, who is also the sister of Colquhoun’s partner, resides.
Mr Cunningham explained: “McCalman’s address in Brediland Road was searched with no persons being present within and no items recovered.
“Officers also attended Whiteford Road at the same time and found McCalman within.
“A search was carried out which recovered packaging that was similar to the packaging recovered at Colquhoun’s property, a red iPhone and another red iPhone with messages relating to the sale and supply of controlled drugs.”
The court heard the green herbal material seized from Colquhoun’s Todholm Terrace property weighed 1721.33 grammes.
The red iPhone was examined and identified as belonging to McCalman and contained a number of photographs of herbal cannabis, photographs of distinctive packaging, photographs of postal tracking numbers of packages from the USA and numerous incoming and outgoing messages in relation to the sale and supply of drugs.
Mr Cunningham added: “Should the 1721.33g of cannabis be subdivided into 3.5g deals, it has the potential to resale approximately £14,754.25 which would be 491 deals.”
Colquhoun’s defence agent Tony Boland said there was “significant background” stating: “Two years ago, he was injured in a motorbike accident and, due to chronic pain, he was prescribed strong painkillers.
“They left him feeling like a zombie so he resorted to cannabis and readily accepts his cannabis use was excessive.
“He relied on it to get to sleep at night and to get through the day.
“And being involved in this activity allowed him free cannabis.
“He is under no illusion how serious this offence is.
“He is ashamed he is before the court and how that may affect his family, partner and children.”
Charlie McCusker, McCalman’s lawyer, told the court: “He accepts this is a serious offence and is remorseful.
“He told me, ‘I’ve messed up’ and has since moved away from negative peer groups.
“At the age of 31 he’s never been to custody before and it’s not a place he wants to go to.”
Sheriff Gillian Craig slammed the drug dealers stating: “You both found yourself involved in a relatively sophisticated operation.
“A custodial disposal is very open to me.
“Mr Colquhoun, you had drugs near to where your children were present, that is reckless.
“I am very narrowly persuaded to take a step back from a custodial sentence.”
Both men were ordered to carry out 180 hours of community service and placed under supervision of the social work department for 18 months.
In addition, both men were ordered to remain within their homes from 7pm to 7am each day for 15 weeks.
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