A MOTHER and son team of heroin dealers who were caught with thousands of pounds of the drug have been ordered to surrender more than £90,000 of their illegal profits.
Hazel Helvin was snared running a heroin dealing operation alongside her son Levi McCaig, and the pair were jailed for 12 months.
Officers also recovered a replica handgun and a list of police radio frequencies during a raid on their home in Currie, Edinburgh.
Now Helvin and McCaig, who have since been released from prison, have been hit with confiscation orders to sieze cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Lindsey Miller, head of the Crown Office’s serious and organised crime division, said the mother and son were involved in drug dealing at a “significant level”.
Their criminal operation was centred at the CCTV-monitored family home in Dolphin Avenue where Helvin, 50, still lives.
Neighbours today said the police carried out raids on the property as long as a decade ago, and had even asked to use residents’ homes to conduct their camera surveillance.
McCaig was stopped by police on November 5, 2008, and found to be carrying 22.1grammes of heroin with a street value of £2300.
The 30-year-old was taken to a police station and found with £57 worth of cocaine and £150 in cash.
Police then swooped on Helvin’s address, finding her in the passenger seat of a car.
The vehicle was searched and £3630 in cash was found in the footwell, while 26.8g of heroin worth £2700 was lying in the driver’s seat.
A further 23.6g of heroin, also worth around £2700 and cocaine worth £39 was also found in her handbag.
During a search of her house, drug paraphernalia was found, including cut bags, cling film, cut plastic gloves, scales, and a tick-list of customer debts.
Replica
A total of £87,020 cash was recovered from various locations in the house, as well as the replica gun and the list of radio frequencies.
On February 9 last year Helvin and McCaig pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to being concerned in the supply of heroin, and were sentenced the following month.
McCaig, who now works at a shop, has a Twitter account where he says “im a fun loving, etc crim heeee haaaaa”.
A neighbour of Helvin’s said: “The mother has lived there for at least 20 years and there’s always been problems. In the past, police have asked neighbours if they can use their homes to do surveillance.
“There was always comings and goings at the house, people going in for a few minutes then out again,
“There would be knocking at the door at 2am and they also had people trying to break in. It was well known they were selling drugs.
“There’s also been fights. Levi – whose real name was Danny before he changed it – was beaten up in the street once.”
Under the confiscation orders, Helvin was forced to surrender the £90,650 she was caught with, while her son lost the £150 he was carrying at the time of his arrest.
Ms Miller daid: “Hazel Helvin and levi McCaig were involved in drug dealing at a significant level.”
