A CONVICTED drugs dealer was stripped of assets worth £242,125 yesterday, as prosecutors continued their drive to hit criminals in the pocket.
John Gorman, 51, had been suspected of being one of the country's leading players in the drugs underworld before he was given a 12-year prison term.
A second man, Peter Smith, 40, was ordered to hand over £174,712 at the High Court in Edinburgh, b
ringing to £416,837 the day's total in confiscation orders.
The money seized under such orders is used to help communities blighted by crime.
The court heard that the proceeds of Gorman's criminal conduct had amounted to £760,000, and that he had realisable assets – cash and interests in properties in Irvine, Ayrshire, and Innellan, Argyll – worth £242,125.
Gorman, of Kilwinning, Ayrshire, was convicted of money-laundering and drugs offences following Operation Folklore, an investigation by authorities in Scotland and Spain.
Smith, of Castlemilk, Glasgow, was an associate of another major drugs figure, Jamie "The Iceman" Stevenson, and both were also arrested as part of Operation Folklore.
Smith received a three-year jail term after police found £400,000 of drugs money in his 4x4 vehicle in the south side of the city.
