Drugs hidden in fake gravestone

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A businessman who admitted smuggling £750,000 of cocaine into Scotland in a fake gravestone has been jailed for four years.

Ramandeep Johal, 31, imported a memorial from Canada inscribed with the name of a fake dead pensioner, in a bid to fool customs officers.

But he was caught out when Canadian police detected traces of cocaine on the 2ft headstone.

Johal admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine in June last year.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Johal was caught after an elaborate sting involving Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), British Customs and Strathclyde Police.

The memorial stone was inscribed for 70-year-old "loving father and husband" Albert Thomas and had its own sentimental poem called Wings Of The Angels.

It was made of wood laminate and had been painted to make it look like stone.

The court heard that Canadian investigators intercepted a "heavy box" which had been posted in British Columbia, bound for Johal's drinks warehouse in Hillington, Renfrewshire.

Swapped headstone

The RCMP were called in after border control agents in the country became suspicious of the package and a scan showed traces of cocaine.

Inside they found the memorial, which contained almost 9,000 grammes of cocaine.

The Mounties sent the headstone to Scotland where officers from Strathclyde Police swapped it for a fake.

A detective posing as a delivery driver took the replacement package to Johal's drinks warehouse on 20 June last year.

Johal signed for the box and police raided his premises.

When quizzed by police Johal claimed he had been threatened by a cousin in Canada who forced him to receive the drugs.

Defence advocate Thomas Ross said: "He comes from a respectable family to whom this is all a bit of a mystery."

Mr Ross added that his client was "inexperienced and naive" and said he was shocked when he heard the amount of drugs involved.

Judge Lord Brailsford told Johal: "Unlike so many people who appear in court you come from a privileged background.

"However, despite that advantageous background you have, for reasons which are really very difficult to understand, resorted to criminal activity.

He told Johal that he would have been jailed for six years but for his early guilty plea.