A criminal gang caught with more than £600,000 worth of cocaine, heroin and Etizolam planned to flood Inverness with drugs, a court was told.

Danielle Finlay, 30, from Hamilton in South Lanarkshire, along with Kieran Adams, 28, from Clydebank in West Dunbartonshire, and Donald Dunbar, 61, Kenneth MacKenzie, 25, Sean Gordon, 28, Stephen Kelly, 31 and Karen Reynolds, 51, all from Glasgow, pleaded guilty to being involved in the supply of drugs between November 2018 and March this year.

The charges were aggravated by a connection to serious organised crime.

Prosecutor Richard Goddard QC told the High Court in Glasgow: "This case relates to the large scale distribution of drugs to the Inverness area.

"The source of the drugs was Glasgow."

The court heard that Adams and Kelly ran the business and used MacKenzie, Dunbar, Finlay and Gordon as couriers.

Reynolds' Glasgow flat was used to store drugs.

The court heard that MacKenzie, Dunbar, Gordon and Finlay were caught following tip-offs to the police. There was also undercover surveillance on members of the gang.

Finlay's Honda Civic car was stopped at Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire on January 16, by police.

Finlay, an administrative assistant with Argyll and Clyde Council, was asked if there were any drugs in the car.

She replied: "What's in the car is a long time in jail."

Drugs with a maximum street value of £151,040 were found in a rucksack on her front passenger seat.

MacKenzie was arrested at Inverness Railway Station on November 20, 2018, and cocaine and heroin was found in his holdall with a maximum street value of £78,320.

Dunbar was stopped at the car park at the Travelodge motor services area in Stirling on December 12, 2018.

A search of his Peugeot revealed cocaine with a maximum street value of £51,500 and heroin with a maximum street value of £66,400.

Gordon was stopped on the A9 at Tomatin, Inverness, on February 5. He had cocaine and heroin with a maximum street value of £99,560 hidden under the boot-liner of his Renault Megane.

Adams and Kelly were the subject of undercover surveillance.

Adams was detained outside a hotel in Inverness on February 6. He had £8300 of cocaine on him and Etizolam pills worth £56,183 were found in a nearby cottage he had been using.

Kelly was caught in Argyle Street, Glasgow, on March 7 with a rucksack containing cocaine and heroin with a street value of £30,290.

A search of Reynolds' flat which he had just left revealed thousands of Etizolam pills with a street value of £105,700 hidden under the bed. Police also found £2300 worth of cocaine.

All seven were remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.

The total amount of drugs seized by the police had a maximum street value of £649,593.