Stephen Gough, 47, was sentenced at the High Court in Paisley after being found guilty following a trial of being concerned in Serious Organised Crime between March and June 2020 in Uddingston and elsewhere.

He was also made subject of a serious crime prevention order lasting three years designed to prevent his return to crime on his release from custody.

Encrypted calls on the Encrochat phone platform used by criminals tied Gough into drug-dealing conversations with jailed co-accused Tony Bennett between March 2020 and June 2020.

Bennett, 35, was imprisoned for three years and nine months in September 2023 for being concerned in serious organised crime between during the same period.

He was convicted of using secret laboratories to refine the drugs from Ecuador before supplying and selling them to dealers throughout Scotland.

Sineidin Corrins, deputy procurator fiscal for specialist casework at the Crown Office, said: “Stephen Gough was an integral part of an international cartel along with others to import large quantities of Class A drugs into Scotland.

“These drugs would have caused immense harm. But with these convictions, we have removed these drugs from the streets and made communities safer. This successful prosecution reinforces our determination to continue to disrupt serious organised crime.”