A DRUG courier snared because police could smell cannabis in his car when they stopped him for a routine check was jailed for 14 months on Tuesday

When they searched the boot, they found more than 50,000 Etizolam tablets worth £20,000.

Shaun McPherson, 24, from Dundee was stopped behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo in Glasgow’s Townhead last December.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard officers smelled cannabis and searched the car.

Prosecutor Lauren McRobert told the court £4,000 in cash was found in the glovebox as well as polythene bags and scales.

A carrier bag containing 50,712 tablets was later recovered from the boot.

Miss McRobert said: “They were analysed and found to be Etizolam. They have a street value of £20,000.”

The dad-of-one was arrested before pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of Etizolam.

His lawyer told the court that McPherson was a courier who became involved because he got into debt.

He added: “Mr McPherson said he had no other option but to accept due to the debt he was in.

“He was a link in the chain, he supplied these drugs and he understands that.

“There is no suggestion, and the Crown agree, that he was anything other than a courier.”

Sheriff Andrew Cubie told McPherson: “I accept that you were a courier but you are an important link in the chain.

“When you became a courier, you became complicit in dragging people like yourself into drugs and debt.”