Prestonpans crook caught with cash and heroin stashed in safes

A drug dealer has been jailed for two years after a police raid discovered more than £10,000 of cash and heroin hidden in two safes.

Steven Moffat, 28, was snared after officers turned armed with a search warrant up at two addresses in Prestonpans, East Lothian, last year.

Officers found a set of keys and a safe hidden in a bedroom at the dealer’s home and found almost £4000 in cash inside.

The keys also opened a second safe found at a separate address in the town and officers discovered a large amount of the killer drug inside.

Jailed heroin dealer Steven Moffat

Moffat pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of diamorphine when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

The dealer was jailed for 24 months by Sheriff Donald Corke when he returned to the dock for sentencing.

Sheriff Corke said: “At the end of the day you were concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.

“You will well know the misery and the danger to life such drugs cause, and you personally have a very extensive criminal record.

“There is no appropriate method of dealing with this other than custody.”

Moffat admitted to being concerned in the supply of diamorphine to others from an address in Prestonpans, East Lothian, between February 8 and April 10 last year.

Fiscal depute Gavin Whyte told the court officers swooped on Moffat’s home in the town’s High Street on April 10 last year.

They discovered the safe hidden away in a bedroom cupboard and a second safe in another address connected with the same raid.

The court was told officers found a total of £3830 along with 255 grams of heroin said to have a street value of £7800.

Solicitor Neil Martin, defending, said his client was involved in paying off a debt a relative had accrued and he had become involved in the supply of the drugs.

He said Moffat had recently become a father and had changed his life around and he “now leads a quiet lifestyle”.

The lawyer added Moffat knew “he was the author of his own downfall” and he had no objection to the Crown’s motion for the forfeiture of the cash found.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.