Police seized heroin worth about £200,000
A convicted drug dealer has admitted masterminding a network of couriers to distribute about £200,000 of heroin.
Sultan Mohammed, 53, from Barrhead in Renfrewshire, was also caught with £80,000 in a raid, after a four-month police surveillance operation.
His network spanned the west of Scotland and the north of England. Sentence was deferred until next month.
Five others also admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin while acting as couriers for Mohammed.
James Laird, 44, from Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire, Toseef Qureshi, 29, from Leeds, Yorkshire, Mohammed Patel, 25, from Blackburn, Lancashire, Daniel Keogh, 40, from Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, and Denise Briers, 39, from Alva, Clackmannanshire, also face jail terms.
Large operation
Briers also admitted to a charge under the proceeds of crime act by receiving £37,010 in criminal property.
The court heard how Mohammed was previously jailed for drug dealing in 2002.
Prosecutor Pino di Emidio told how police began watching him in November 2009.
Mr di Emidio added: "Sultan Mohammed was identified at an early stage in the operation as someone who, while refraining from direct involvement in the various drug and cash transactions, was involved in a large-scale drug operation."
Those linked to Mohammed were spotted in Lanarkshire as well as Preston, Lancashire and Bradford, Yorkshire.
Police eventually arrested Mohammed and an accomplice within the car park of the Castlecary Hotel, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, on 1 February last year.
Detectives from the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency later seized heroin worth £200,000 and nearly £80,000 in two separate raids.
