A drug dealer jailed after plotting to flood Central Scotland with heroin and cocaine was caught with an iPhone behind bars.
Anthony O'Hare, 36, had the device at high-security HMP Shotts, Lanarkshire. Prison officers searched his cell after receiving a tip-off and discovered the mobile hidden in a box.
O'Hare, caged for his leading role in a drug supply plot, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court. He admitted a charge of possessing a communication device while in prison in April.
Sheriff Ross Macfarlane KC handed O'Hare a six month jail term but told him it would run alongside his current eight year drug supply sentence.
Depute fiscal Myrto Paton said: "Prison officers carried out an intelligence led search of the accused's cell. He was present throughout the search and complied fully with officers.
"They searched a box within the cell and an iPhone was found within which was then removed and given to the prison authorities."
The court heard his earliest date of release is in 2027. His lawyer added: "He had been eligible for parole in September this year but due to the backlog with Covid this has been delayed."
O'Hare was caged in 2019 after he was found to be the 'ringleader' in a Glasgow-based serious organised crime group. He had previously been jailed in 2013 for his leading role in a drugs and dirty money crew after his tastes in Armani suits and expensive watches helped get him caught.
O'Hare was freed early from that sentence but returned to a life of crime and a large-scale police probe led to him being caught with more than £40,000 in cash.
Two accomplices were also held as £500,000 worth of Class A drugs heroin and cocaine were recovered. Prosecutors said the case against O'Hare involved the large-scale distribution of drugs by an organised crime group based in the east end of Glasgow.
Details of postcodes and house numbers where drugs were to be delivered across the country were found. The drugs were found in a car in the Ruchazie area of Glasgow.
O'Hare was detained at his home address in Stepps, Lanarkshire. His lawyer had previously claimed that he was the 'buffer' between those lower down the ladder and the profiteers at the top of the drug chain.
Jailing him in 2019, judge Lady Scott said: "It is clear from the offences and the evidence you had a leading role in this operation on the ground."
He admitted being concerned in the supply of both drugs, directing others to commit a serious offence and having £41,250 of dirty money.
In 2020 O'Hare was ordered to hand over £75,000 after prosecutors launched a proceeds of crime action. Lord Braid said it should be recorded that his benefit from general criminal conduct was £650,000 but made a confiscation order for the lesser amount.
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