Drug dealer to be sentenced at Inverness Sheriff Court later this month after admitting having £6500 worth of cannabis in a car in a Ross-shire village
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A DRUG dealer found with up to £6500 worth of cannabis and a blade inside a car in a Ross-shire village must await his fate after an appearance in court this week.
Raimonds Kupreiciks was in the driver's seat of a Vauxhall Astra in Muir of Ord when police carrying out a mobile patrol approached him after reports of an unrelated incident.
Depute fiscal Robert Weir told Sheriff Margaret Neilson at Inverness Sheriff Court that the Latvian was sitting in the driver's seat of the vehicle within the rear car park at Vulcan Cottage on Great North Road as the incident unfolded around 1am on June 17 last year.
A young female was observed in the front seat of the car.
Mr Weir said: "When officers spoke to the occupants of the vehicle the male identified himself as the now accused.
"On speaking to the occupants both officers detected a strong smell of cannabis."
Both Kupreiciks and the female were detained for the purpose of a search and nothing was found in their possession.
However on searching the vehicle, police recovered a Stanley blade, cling film, a white bag containing six bags of herbal matter, a plastic bag containing nine bags of herbal matter – later identified as cannabis – and an envelope containing £1310 in cash.
Kupreiciks was arrested and taken to Burnett Road police station in Inverness.
The 32 year-old, whose address was given as c/o HMP Inverness, admitted being in possession of cannabis with intent to supply and possession of a bladed article on Tuesday before the case was due to go to trial.
The fiscal said the accused told police: "It was stupid to get involved with all this."
When asked about the blade he said back in Latvia it was normal but wouldn't be doing it again.
The fiscal said the drugs had a value of £3500 to £4200 in the form in which they were recovered but if sub-divided further they had a value of up to £6510.
Sentence was deferred until October 28 for reports.
