ALMOST £100,000 has been seized from a Scots drug mule.
Mark Gormley, 25, was ordered to forfeit £99,960 at Hamilton Sheriff court today.
The cash was detected during the course of an intelligence-led police operation on 19 January 2008.
Information had been received indicating that Mark Gormly would, during the course of that day, take delivery of a substantial quantity of controlled drugs and/or cash on behalf of an organised crime group active in and around North Lanarkshire.
Gormly was kept under surveillance on the afternoon of 19 January 2008. He drove to a remote car park in Motherwell where he was seen to accept a number of weighty bags from a man later identified as Andrew Sutcliffe of Preston in Lancashire.
Gormly was stopped a little while later. Two Louis Vuitton gift bags were found in the boot of his car. These bags were stuffed with bundles of cash which when later counted amounted to £99,960.
Mark Gormly did not oppose the forfeiture of the cash.
Ruaraidh Macniven, the Head of the Civil Recovery Unit, said: “This is the latest in a serious of high value cash forfeitures achieved by the Civil Recovery Unit working in conjunction with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and other law enforcement agencies.
“The Civil Recovery Unit is determined to use all the powers available to it under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to disrupt the activities of the organised crime groups responsible for causing harm in our communities.
“People involved in such groups must be in no doubt that there is no hiding place in Scotland for them or for the profits they generate from their evil activities.
“The Civil Recovery Unit is determined to do its utmost to ensure that Scotland becomes and remains a hostile environment for criminal gangs.”
Gordon Meldrum, Director General of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: “The SCDEA welcomes this announcement as the recovery of criminal assets ensures criminals no longer enjoy the profits of their illegal dealings, but instead are forced to literally pay the price for their criminality.”
