A GRANDAD has been jailed for his role in a major £1m Motherwell drug factory.
Stanley Feerick, 68, was caught driving a lorry containing 2.9 kilos of heroin, worth £300,000, and tens of thousands of pounds in cash.
He was arrested in November 2020 before investigators discovered Feerick had also ordered more than 560 kilos of alpha-phenyl acetoacetamide (APAA), a substance used in the production of amphetamine, to be loaded into a lorry.
That amount of APAA could have produced amphetamine worth around £1.1m, according to the National Crime Agency.
Feerick has now been sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for drug trafficking.
The Daily Record reported the lorry driver puffed out his cheeks and said 'wow' after being sentenced for his role in the Motherwell drug gang.
The court heard yesterday how Feerick had also "organised transport and drivers" for chemicals to be taken to Scotland, "appearing to have used his legitimate work as cover" - having been employed as a lorry driver by a Knowsley-based firm.
Feerick’s lawyer Philip Tully claimed his client thought there had only been cash stashed in the incriminating hold-all.
Tully also mentioned a number of health difficulties experienced by the "loving father and grandfather", as he battles diabetes and has undergone treatment for an eye condition.
It comes after officers also raided Feerick’s Liverpool home and found another £9,370 in cash.
The National Crime Agency said: “The final member of an organised crime group that ran an amphetamine factory in Scotland and trafficked heroin and cocaine across the UK, has today been sentenced and given an 8.5 year prison sentence.
“Stanley Feerick, from Liverpool, was arrested in November 2020 after being stopped while driving a lorry containing 2.9 kilos of heroin, worth £300,000, and tens of thousands of pounds in cash.
“The following month, more than 560 kilos of alpha-phenylacetoacetamide (APAA), a substance used in the production of amphetamine, was found in a lorry which NCA investigators discovered had been loaded on the orders of Feerick.
“That amount of APAA could have produced amphetamine worth around £1.1m.
“A search of Feerick’s home led to the recovery of another £9,370 in cash.
“Today’s sentencing marks the complete dismantling of a crime group that operated from the north of England to Scotland, and sought to make huge profits from a trade that fuels violence and exploitation.
“The NCA continues to work to protect the public from the highest risk criminals impacting on the UK.”
