Scots drugs kingpin admits running serious organised crime operation from prison

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A criminal mastermind has admitted running a major operation from his prison cell to distribute Class A drugs in Scotland.Christopher Smith was caught after detectives who examined mobile phones recovered from drug couriers found a series of telephone numbers linked to him.

Cops discovered that, despite being in custody, the drugs kingpin even ordered hard drugs to be delivered to Edinburgh’s Saughton prison – along with detailed instructions about how to make varying strengths of crack Cocaine for special “customers”.Smith, 34, pleaded guilty on Thursday to directing and organising the supply of controlled drugs, aggravated by connections with serious organised crime.

He admitted committing the offence at HMP Edinburgh and at addresses in the capital, Inverness, Nairn and elsewhere in Scotland between 8 March 2018 and 12 November 2019.His accomplices across the North of Scotland were named as Iain MacKenzie, Kieran Shand, Darren Duncan and Ruth Wardhaugh, all c/o Police Scotland’s offices in Inverness.

The High Court at Livingston was told Smith had failed to attend his trial earlier this month after being released on bail to allow him to have surgery to remove a brain tumour.However, he handed himself into a police station on Wednesday night and, appearing from custody with an angry operation scar across the top of his head, pleaded guilty to a new charge of failing to appear on 9 September.Advocate depute John McElroy KC moved for sentence and told the court the Crown was seeking to have a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) imposed on Smith.The order, aimed at protecting the public by preventing, restricting or disrupting an offender’s involvement in serious crime, can set conditions such as restricting who they