More than �20m worth of cannabis was seized

John Gorman, from Irvine, was convicted of supplying heroin, cocaine and cannabis in Ayrshire.

The High Court in Glasgow heard he claimed to be a self-employed builder, yet during 100 days of surveillance he had not once visited a building site.

Gorman and four other men will be sentenced later in April.

The investigation, Operation Folklore, has seen the seizure of more than 12 tonnes of drugs, with a total street value of about �61m.

There isn't an Ayrshire town or village which escaped the suffering inflicted as a result of this group's drug dealing Graeme Pearson Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency

It included the seizure of a �24m cannabis cargo from a converted trawler in Spain.

Gorman was originally accused of being involved in the drug smuggling but the prosecution withdrew the charge because of insufficient evidence.

He was in the dock with Mushtaq Ahmed, 51, from Bradford, James Lowrie, 59, from Cheshire, and William McDonald, 46, from Paisley.

The jury, which retired last Wednesday, found Gorman, Ahmed, Lowrie and McDonald guilty of a laundering operation involving �178,000 of drug money.

Gorman was also found guilty of being involved in the supply of drugs which had a street value of �362,000.

And a fifth man, Robert Thomson, 27, from Irvine, admitted being involved in the supply of �12,000 of cannabis earlier in the trial.

Contaminated money

All were jailed pending sentencing by the judge, Lord Bracadale.

During the trial prosecutor, Sean Murphy QC, told the court that thousands of pounds of heroin-contaminated money was laundered by Gorman and others.

Gorman claimed he possessed the cash for deals to buy tobacco and fireworks.

After the verdicts, Graeme Pearson of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency, said: "There isn't an Ayrshire town or village which escaped the suffering, misery and tragedy inflicted as a result of the drug dealing activities of this group.

"Families did without to give them profit. These convictions hit back at that."