Ex-Army sniper jailed after £100K cocaine bust
Published 21 Mar 2011 09:30
Share this
A FORMER Army poster boy from High Valleyfield has been jailed for three years after being caught with £100,000 worth of cocaine.
Shawn Jarvie (28), of Woodhead Street, was a sniper and had been out of the military for just a month when he claimed to officers he was trying to pay off a debt he owed.
A judge told the ex-soldier that he took into account his Army record but said, "Those concerned in the supply of substantial quantities of Class A drugs must expect to receive significant sentences."
On Friday, Lord Doherty said he would have jailed Jarvie for four and a half years for the crime but for his guilty plea.
The judge said, "You have pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of a Class A drug, the quantity being some two kilos which had a maximum street value between £80,000 and £100,000. Your involvement was as a courier on a single day."
The court was told that Jarvie had seen active service with the Army in Iraq and in Kosovo as part of the peace-keeping force.
He had also been involved in recruitment and appeared on the cover of the Army magazine.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Fife police received confidential information over the supply of a large quantity of drugs in its area and set up a covert surveillance operation codenamed Operation Zulu.
On 30th June last year officers watched Jarvie in a VW Golf car at McDonalds car park at the Fife Leisure Park in Dunfermline.
He was seen continually using his mobile phone before leaving the vehicle, which was driven off.
He had a large holdall and police watched as he walked along Halbeath Road where he waved to the driver of a Ford Transit van.
Advocate depute Gillian More said the vehicle stopped and Jarvie got into the front passenger seat.
The surveillance team followed as it was driven off to a supermarket car park.
Jarvie was seen placing the holdall in through the side door of the van, before removing the now open bag, zipping it up and walking away onto Halbeath Road.
The van was driven off and, believing that a drugs transaction had taken place, the police moved in to detain Jarvie.
Inside the holdall they found three taped packages containing a total of about two kilos of cocaine.
The drugs had a potential street value if broken down into gram deals of between £80,000 and £99,700, the court was told.
Jarvie earlier admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug on 30th June 2010.
His defence counsel Susan Duff said, "He is deeply ashamed of his actions and feels everything he has achieved in the past has been wasted."
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.
