A LINWOOD drug dealer who was caught red-handed after police swooped on the car he was travelling in has been jailed for four years.

Steven McCallum, of Kintyre Avenue, was snared by officers who recovered a £900,000 haul of high-purity cocaine.

An earlier hearing at the High Court in Glasgow was told 34-year-old McCallum was a passenger in a Vauxhall Corsa being driven by co-accused Garry Jordan when it was stopped near Aviemore, in the Highlands, on May 29, 2020.

Jordan, 35, pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine between March and May 2020 when he appeared in the dock.

Broadband engineer McCallum admitted the same charge but only to being involved on the day of the swoop.

Both were remanded in custody and appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh today to learn their fate.

Jordan, of Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire, was jailed for five years and eight months.

Passing sentence, judge Lord Arthurson told the pair: "You are both family men with children."

The earlier hearing was told how the Corsa was stopped by officers on the A95, between Aviemore and Carrbridge.

A holdall that was found in the boot contained packages that appeared to be drugs.

After expert analysis, it was established they were blocks of cocaine with a purity as high as 76%.

The total potential value of the three-kilogram haul was around £889,000.

Police also found what they suspected to be an Encrochat phone, which was broken.

Such phones can connect to a global encrypted network used extensively by criminals.

Prosecutor Blair Speed told the court: “Between March 27, 2020, and May 7, 2020, Jordan can be shown to have utilised Encrochat in his involvement in cocaine supply.

“The Encrochat messages...placed him in a logistics role at a mid-level in the hierarchy of the organised crime group.”

The court also heard that McCallum has previous convictions for violence and dishonesty and was locked up in 2007 for road traffic offences.

Brian Fitzpatrick, defence solicitor advocate for McCallum, said his client had an excellent work record but, after being left unemployed, had agreed to act as a courier for the drugs on one occasion, in return for a single payment.

He added: "His involvement in this enterprise occurred during a lockdown period. He was working up until the lockdown. He was one of those who fell through the net of government assistance."