Pair convicted of running £1.5m drugs supply hub from Moray warehouse

Two men have been convicted of large-scale drug supply after police recovered more than £1.5m worth of drugs from a warehouse in Moray.

Ben Terry, 35, and Mark Davidson, 36, used the warehouse in Elgin to ship out drugs to customers throughout Britain.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how the men worked with an organised crime gang to run the "distribution hub".

On 8 December 2024 police found the warehouse stocked with cocaine, ecstasy, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, diazepam, the Class A drug DMT, mephedrone and dihydrocodeine.

The court heard that Davidson was the leaseholder for a unit in Elgin and the pair were directors of a firm called Eliv8 Details Ltd.

Advocate depute David Dickson KC said that, according to Companies House, the nature of the business was the maintenance, repair and sale of cars and specialist and other cleaning services.

He said the warehouse was one of several around the UK which had been identified by the National Crime Agency.

"These warehouses operated as distribution hubs for drugs which were ordered via (messaging app) Telegram," he told the court.

He said that following the lease of the unit, the two men were working with an organised crime group based in England and agreed to use the leased warehouse as a distribution centre for a large variety of drugs.

The prosecutor said the pair took ownership of Telegram accounts using the names "Amazon Dark", "Scottish Office", "Davmatam", "Ben Ward", "Ghost" and "Master Yoda".

He said these accounts then received orders from a large number of addresses throughout the UK for drug deliveries, varying from large parcels of 1kg down to 1g.

"They supplied both dealers and users alike," Dickson said.

"Both accused fulfilled the orders from the distribution centre in Elgin by packaging the parcels and sending them via Royal Mail for next-day delivery. They would receive payments either in cash, bank transfer or Bitcoin."

The prosecutor said a number of packages containing either drugs or cash were intercepted in the postal system and could be linked back to the accused.

On 7 January last year a Royal Mail employee in Elgin reported a suspicious package to the police. It was addressed to M Davidson at Speymouth Drive, Mosstodloch, Fochabers, and found to contain £1,000.

A further package was intercepted by Border Force personnel in Northern Ireland in January last year which was found to contain 1.1kg of cocaine. The tracking number revealed it was dispatched from Elgin.

Another package addressed to Davidson, at South Road, Garmouth, was intercepted and passed on to police. It was found to contain £1,780.

A police drug dog reacted to a package that was destined for an address in Hartlepool, which was discovered to contain a kilo of ketamine. The tracking number showed it had been posted at the post office in Buckie, Moray.

Following the discoveries, police were granted warrants to search the properties in Mosstodloch and Garmouth, in Moray, and a unit in Elgin.

Dickson said the search at the unit "disclosed a significant quantity of different drugs, most of which were in envelopes and other packaging in preparation for distribution through the Post Office".

He said MDMA worth in excess of £715,000 was found along with £303,000 worth of cocaine, £236,510 of LSD, £111,050 of amphetamine, £36,900 of ecstasy, £77,864 of ketamine, £26,160 of the psychedelic drug DMT, more than £38,000 of mephedrone and dihydrocodeine valued at £18,350.

Terry's then address in South Road, Garmouth was searched. A total of 2,560 diazepam tablets were recovered, along with 50g of cocaine.

A search of Davidson's address in Speymouth Drive, Mosstodloch, recovered £18,045 in cash along with the agreement for the lease of the warehouse at the unit at Tower Place, in Elgin.

The court heard that some of the cocaine found in the police operation was as high as 76% or 77% purity. Officers also found 47,302 paper squares with LSD.

Terry, from Dundee, and Davidson, from Mosstodloch, admitted 10 charges of being concerned in the supply of a variety of drugs between 8 December 2024 and 18 February last year.

The court heard that all the offences were aggravated by a connection with serious organised crime.

Defence counsel Simon Gilbride, for Davidson, said this "sorry business" started with Davidson being in debt.

"His position is that the activity here began a matter of weeks prior to his arrest," he said.

Lord Summers continued sentencing for the preparation of background reports on both men and remanded them in custody.

The judge said a "very substantial amount" of drugs was involved in the case and added: "You may both anticipate a lengthy custodial sentence."