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£1M TAXI DRIVER DRUG BARON Dec 7 2004


Heroin dealer is jailed for six years

By Bob Dow



A TAXI driver who became a £1million drug baron was jailed for six years yesterday.

Bruce Goodbrand moved in on the evil trade after spending years ferrying cash-rich dealers in the back of his cab.

Despite his own son being a heroin addict, Goodbrand, 48, couldn't resist the lure of making easy money from the misery of others.

He quickly became the top man in the Aberdeenshire fishing port of Fraserburgh, helping to turn it into the heroin capital of Scotland.

But his flashy lifestyle - including paying for a £27,000 sports car in cash - brought him to the attention of the drugs squad.

Realising his days were numbered, Goodbrand tried to flee to Bulgaria but he was arrested at Aberdeen airport on May 14 this year with bags of cash.

His girlfriend, Beverly Cowe, who had gone on ahead to Bulgaria, is wanted after failing to appear at the High Court earlier this year on drugs charges.

Police instigated Operation Samurai to snare Goodbrand, who set up a network of dealers across the north. They were buying heroin every two days from him.

The former fisherman, of Lonmay, near Fraserburgh, who is not a drug user, admitted drug dealing.

His addict son Darrin, 27, had appeared alongside him at the High Court in Perth last month but had his not-guilty plea accepted.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Macfadyen told Goodbrand: 'You made a deliberate, voluntary decision to become involved in dealing for your own profit.'

Crown Office officials are preparing to seize thousands of pounds worth of assets and cash from him at a hearing later this month.

Head of Grampian Police drugs squad Detective Inspector Willie Findlay said Goodbrand thought he had a watertight set-up.

He added: 'When we arrested him at the airport he was totally deflated.'



Fit and proper?

regards

Captain cab

Mmmm good reading just goes to show no one is above the law. He must have been stupid to think a £27,000 sports car would go un-noticed on a cabbies wages.

27000k is nothing i paid 45 k for my sporty no

It does make you wonder, we have hacks and PH drivers with new vehicles sat in the drive, and they are using bangers to work with, and an extension to the house going on, I often wonder how the hell are they doing it on cab takings

But when you get down to the nitty gritty a lot of people take a gamble and borrow, you can spin finance out for a number of years to lower the price of paying back, or pull off your mortgage

an extension to an average semi will be about 20 grand or even less, even I could do it.

One hack has just had a 40 grand extension to his house, his wife doesn't work, but when finding out when the said driver told me, he had child with a disabilty and got a grant to do the extension with the childs disability in mind

The real thing here is we don't know the ins and outs unless he's involved with something illeagal. big style. everyone circumstances are different, he could have inhereted, won the lottery, we don't know.

just keep pressing the meter button, our turn next.

It would seem that there are more about than we thought.

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/010 ... _page.html

Alex

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