A MOTORIST whose car was stopped on the M6 near Carlisle was transporting an illicit cargo of cannabis with an estimated street value of £130,000.

The car being driven south by 40-year-old Scott Alexander Couttie smelled strongly of cannabis and this prompted the police officers who spoke to him to search the vehicle.

They found 13 bags of cannabis, each weighing a kilo, and then later they found cannabis worth another £10,000 at the defendant’s home. Couttie admitted possessing the class B drug with intent to supply.

At the city’s crown court, prosecutor Mari Clancy outlined the facts.

The defendant was driving south past Carlisle at 9.40pm on May 31 when police had cause to stop him and approach his car, said the prosecutor.

“The driver side window was partially rolled down and the officers noticed a strong smell of cannabis,” said the barrister.

When asked about his trip, the defendant told the officers that he was returning from Glasgow, having dropped off a friend at the city’s rail station. He tried to explain the cannabis smell by claiming it was the medicinal form of the drug.

It was after this that the police searched the car and found the 13 sealed bags, on the back seat of the vehicle. An expert assessed the drug’s potential street value as up to £130,000.

Couttie said the cannabis did not belong to him; he claimed he was just collecting the packages for somebody else and had no interest in them. The three further bags of cannabis found at Couttie’s home in Blackpool matched the ones in the car.

He claimed that cannabis was for his personal use.

Anthony Parkinson said Couttie committed the offence as a result of “mixing with the wrong people.” His involvement had come about after he progressed from using medicinal cannabis to the street version of the drug.

“He was a courier only,” said Mr Parkinson, telling the court that Couttie, of Raikes Parade, Blackpool, acted under direction. A father-of-three, Couttie was a hard-working man who became involved as a courier on this one occasion.

Imposing a suspended 18-month jail term, Recorder Michael Duck KC said the defendant knew he was transporting the drugs as part of a sophisticated operation, and he took the risk.  The sentence was suspended for two years.

It includes 160 hours of unpaid work in the community and 10 rehabilitation activity days which must be carried out with the Probation Service.