Taxi Driver Online

Evening Times (Glasgow)

November 30, 2006

Headline: 10 YEARS FOR CITY COCAINE BARON:

GBP325,000 of drug seized in cop raids

A GLASGOW drug baron was today jailed for 10 years for cocaine trafficking.

Alexander Donnelly, who was caught by undercover cops for the second time inside a decade, also has to hand over assets worth almost GBP177,000. The former taxi driver previously held a Scottish record for the largest confiscation order - GBP270,000 - after he was jailed for heroin dealing in 1996.

Donnelly, 50, of Wallacewell Crescent in Glasgow, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine between June and December in 2003 in Glasgow, Manchester and London.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that a flat in Scotstoun Street in Glasgow, was set up as a small drugs factory.

A total of 6.3kilos of cocaine with a street value of GBP325,000 was seized by police in a number of operations.

Passing sentence, Lord Kinclaven told Donnelly and his co-accused, Heriot Watt University student David Martindale: "The court has repeatedly indicated that it requires to mark the seriousness of such offences and to deter others."

Former publican Martindale, 32, of Livingston in West Lothian, was jailed for six-and-a-half years.

The judge told him: "You carried out the role of No2 or right-hand man to Donnelly with a more direct or hands-on role in the operation, such as meeting couriers or checking on the arrangements."

Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency Co-ordinator, Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Ward, said today: "These convictions send out a clear message to criminals throughout Scotland that drug trafficking will not be tolerated in any way.

"The SCDEA remains committed to taking the profit out of criminality."
...............................................................