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 from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) 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, of COPFS, 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.
“Victor Kihu deliberately targeted people who, under threats and intimidation, would carry out his coercive demands to let others use their homes for criminal conduct.
“But he is now in prison having been brought to account for his crimes.
“The public can be assured we take this type of offending extremely seriously.
“We are wholly committed to working with partners to disrupt and deter this type of criminal activity in order to keep our communities safe.”
Kihu carried out his crimes at eight addresses in Aberdeen between July 2025 and January this year.
A police investigation revealed that males from England were being housed in each of the properties to sell and buy drugs at Kihu’s direction and on behalf of the Harlem Organised Crime Group.
He would visit some of the properties and intimidate residents into letting individuals from England stay.
One resident was told by a dealer that Kihu had threatened his life if he did not
comply and had taken his phone so he couldn’t contact his family.
During the police investigation, it was established that the sale and supply of drugs was being co-ordinated through numerous mobile phones, which were later found to belong to the accused.
Officers subsequently were alerted to claims that several of the properties were being used to deal drugs and later recovered a quantity of drugs from the addresses.
Kihu was arrested on a bus in Perth in January of this year.
A later examination of his phone found it contained messages directing individuals to locations to deal drugs as well as receiving inventories of amounts of drugs left at various locations.
The total amount of heroin seized during the police investigation was 124 wraps with an estimated street value of £3,750.
The amount of cocaine recovered totalled 261 packages with an estimated street value of £5,220.
In addition, a total of £8,653.06 in cash was also seized.