A RUSSIAN drug dealer threw cocaine into a Musselburgh garden after being caught in a police sting.

Andrey Morashkovsky was sitting in a car with another man when he spotted the officers, who had the vehicle under surveillance at the town’s Stoneybank Gardens South.

Morashkovsky left the car and after officers shouted for him to stop he was seen throwing a tissue into a garden.

The tissue was found to have a quantity of cocaine worth £40 contained within it.

He was then searched by officers and a further five packages of the Class A drug were found on him with a total value of £85. A search warrant was then granted to search the man’s home and several bags of heroin were discovered, along with hundreds of pounds in cash, on June 16 last year.

Morashkovsky was then spotted by police in a car park at the town’s Ladywell Way in October last year. When he was searched, cash and “a quantity of brown powder” were found on him.

Following a second warrant being issued to allow a search of the man’s home, more heroin was found, along with drug paraphernalia.

The 39-year-old admitted two offences and was jailed for 16 months at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Fiscal depute Lorna Ferrier told the court that police officers were “monitoring” a vehicle in Musselburgh when two men approached it.

Morashkovsky, described as a prisoner of HMP Edinburgh, was then seen to throw the tissue into the garden and a subsequent search of his home uncovered more evidence.

Ms Ferrier said that during the second incident on October 20 officers were on a “routine search” of the Ladywell Way car park area when they spotted Morashkovsky.

Police searched him and found £496 in cash and a quantity of heroin.

Solicitor Angela Craig, defending, said that her client had been in Scotland for the last 20 years and his only previous conviction was an 11-month jail term for possession of a knife.

Ms Craig added that Morashkovsky had “a significant drug problem” and the supply was among fellow users and “not for commercial profit”.

The lawyer said that Morashkovsky was a father-of-three and had never claimed benefits in this country, making his way by working as a labourer and in agriculture.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen said: “I have to proceed on the basis that this was not commercial supply and that impacts on the sentence.

“But you have previously been sentenced to imprisonment and you did continue with this conduct after the initial interruption on 16 June.

“In that situation, I feel only a jail sentence is appropriate.”

A Crown motion for the forfeiture of the recovered cash was also granted.

Morashkovsky pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of quantities of cocaine and heroin at Stoneybank Gardens South and Stoneybank Terrace between June 16 and October 20 last year.