A FORMER painter and decorator caught with £400,000 of high-purity cocaine has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Andrew Tucker, 60, was snared during a probe into an organised crime gang.

Tucker was initially stopped while a passenger in a car in Glasgow's Cathcart before his flat in Drumchapel was also searched.

Police seized a total of four kilogrammes of the class A drugs during the raids on May 18, 2023.

Tucker's lawyer today told the High Court in Glasgow that he got involved in the trafficking operation after failing to find work.

He was jailed after he admitted to being concerned in the supply of cocaine by acting as a courier or agreeing to store the narcotics.

Lord Arthurson cut the jail term from five years due to his guilty plea.

Tucker had been in a Nissan Qashqai driven by former co-accused 57-year-old Annie Hammond.

Police had got a tip-off drugs may be in the vehicle.

Prosecutor William Frain-Bell KC said two blocks of cocaine in plastic bags were found in the passenger footwell.

The home the pair shared in Drumchapel was searched the same day.

A further two taped blocks were discovered in a rucksack there.

Mr Frain-Bell said the cocaine had a purity as high as 76% and could potentially be sold for a total of £401,000.

Tucker's solicitor advocate Paul Mullen said the dad had previously worked before serious money issues led to him being evicted.

He had been living with Hammond for the last decade. Tucker had latterly been her carer.

Mr Mullen said: "Prior to this (offence) he was looking for work, hoping it to be of the legitimate kind.

"But when this opportunity was afforded to him, he went into this enterprise with his eyes open.

"He is fully aware that his involvement can only result in a custodial sentence.

"He is realistic about that. I am afraid to report it is a sad tale that this court is all too familiar with."

The lawyer added Tucker was insistent Hammond did not know what he was involved in.

Lord Arthurson accepted Tucker was at the low end of the drug trafficking, but that a "significant" jail term still had to be imposed.

Hammond had her not-guilty plea to the same charge accepted by prosecutors.