Aberdeen man with £150,000 of herbal cannabis jailed Published duration 3 September 2010

image caption Mark Shum was caught with 45kg of the drug in suitcases

A 63-year-old man found guilty of supplying herbal cannabis with a maximum street value of about £150,000 has been jailed for three years.

Mark Shum, from Aberdeen, was caught with 45kg of the drug in suitcases when police stopped his car on the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen road last year.

Shum had denied the allegations but was found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Judge Lord Malcolm said it was a serious offence.

The court heard the drug haul was estimated initially to have a potential street value of £300,000, but Lord Malcolm said the value of the consignment was possibly approaching £150,000.

The judge said: "The jury has convicted you of a serious offence involving a substantial quantity of cannabis - a Class B drug - and you were concerned in the supply of that drug.

"It is clear this was a commercial operation and that you sought financial gain from an illegal activity causes misery and worse to the ultimate end users."

image caption Grampian Police said the drugs had been kept off Aberdeen's streets

Defence counsel David Moggach said Shum was to receive a £100 payment for making the trip and was "a delivery man".

Det Insp Chris Lawrence, of the Grampian Police major investigation team, said: "This was a very large quantity of drugs which we've successfully intercepted en route to Aberdeen and kept off our streets.

"This amount of drugs had the capacity to cause enormous harm in our communities, not only from the misuse of cannabis, but from the crime that drugs inevitably bring in their wake.

"Tackling drugs - which blight entire communities - remains a force priority and we will be unceasing in our work to tackle this menace and the serious organised crime groups which are behind much of the drugs trade."