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‘Young Team’ drugs gang who sold from tent sentenced

Submitted by admin on Friday, 5 March 2010

Two drug dealers who called themselves “The Young Team” and sold heroin from a tent in the Saracen area of Glasgow have been jailed.

Steven Gordon, 22, was sentenced to four years and eight months and Alexander Sutherland, 20, was given three years and six months.

Two teenage runners who delivered drugs packages for the gang on their bikes were also sentenced.

Jordan Donnelly and Dylan Shaw received probation and community service.

The four had admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin in Glasgow between August and 4 September last year at an earlier hearing.

Sentencing them at the High Court in Dumbarton, judge Lord Pentland said it was clear that members of the gang played a significant part in keeping the streets of Glasgow supplied with the drug.He ordered Donnelly, 17, and Shaw, 16, to spend two years on probation and carry out 120 hours community service.

The court heard that the gang operated from camp on waste ground in Saracen area. Their code to tell customers drugs were available was: “The shop is open.”

Their operation was broken up by a covert police investigation codenamed “Operation Hudson”.

Undercover officers, named in court only as “Scott” and “Stuart”, were given cash to buy drugs.

Some of the deals which followed were filmed and recorded on tape.

Police were involved in 34 transactions and witnessed many more.

At one point during the undercover operation the detectives saw up to 15 potential customers hanging about.

“Scott” was given a telephone number and when he called, the male who answered told him: “The shop is open.”

Well organised

When Shaw’s home was raided in September last year police found 12 wraps of heroin.

Sutherland, who claimed he was a used car dealer, had £2,420 in cash in his home and serial numbers on some of the notes showed they had come from the undercover detectives.

Gordon had £560 in cash, and claimed he had won it at the bookies.

Advocate depute Leanne Cross said the total street value for the drugs bought was £1,135 and the heroin in Shaw’s home was worth £200.

She said that although the total seized was relatively low, police experts thought the accused were all involved in a large scale, well-organised business.

She added: “It is accepted by the Crown that the accused in the dock were not in overall control of what was clearly a larger operation run by others.”