Victor Kihu, 24, recruited men from deprived areas in England to sell and supply Class A drugs from several properties in a cross-border county lines illicit practice known as cuckooing.

Prosecutors gathered evidence which showed Kihu exercised control over multiple addresses to oversee the drug-trafficking scheme. He directed others to purchase and sell cocaine and heroin while using the homes of susceptible individuals as a base for his criminal conduct.

He was a member of an organised crime group known as Harlem which operated between Aberdeen, Glasgow and Inverness.

The accused ran the trafficking scheme by co-ordinating the movements of young English males, some of them listed as missing, between safe houses and locations used for drug dealing.

Kihu, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was imprisoned for six years and five months at the High Court in Glasgow after he admitted, while acting with others, to being concerned in the sale and supply of drugs.

Prosecutor Sineidin Corrins said: “Cuckooing is an abhorrent practice which often has a devastating impact on vulnerable and innocent individuals. Seeking justice for people in our communities who are all too often coerced, groomed and threatened by county lines drug dealers is a priority for Scotland’s prosecutors.”