MEMBERS of a drugs gang who made vast quantities of fake Valium in a Breaking Bad-style operation were today jailed for a total of 19 years.

Johnstone man Eric Reid, 45, and 33-year-old Scott McGaw, from Paisley, were both convicted of producing the drug Etizolam at a garage in Back Sneddon Street, Paisley, between May 2016 and March last year.

Harry Ingle, 41, of Reading, Berkshire, admitted being involved in the production and supply of Etizolam between May 2016 and March last year, while London man Nicholas Conway, 45, pleaded guilty to being involved in the supply of the drug between February and March last year.

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At the High Court in Glasgow today, judge Lord Burns told the four they were motivated by “greed” and the chance to make easy money.

The court heard that Conway boasted to friends of being offered £11,000 for a few days' work.

Reid, of Blackwood Terrace, and Ingle were jailed for five and a half years each.

McGaw, of Victoria Road, was caged for five years, while Conway, who was involved in the operation for a shorter period of time, was handed a three-year sentence.

Lord Burns said: “This drug was being produced on an industrial scale. You must have been one of the major sources of what was described as a flood of this drug into Scotland.

“You were aware it would be illegal to produce this drug, which has potential to cause serious harm to people who abuse it."

Police who raided the Paisley drugs factory found a huge stash of Etizolam pills, which are dubbed 'the Blue Plague,' with a maximum street value of £1.6m.

Pills were being churned out of a machine and many more were bagged and stored in holdalls for onward supply.

McGaw, who runs a hair transplant franchise in Scotland and Ireland, provided the cash to set up the running of the operation, which required hi-tech machinery, including a £20,000 pill press capable of churning out 250,000 tablets per hour.

Reid, who worked as a mechanic, was the facilitator who rented the premises and organised the delivery of materials from as far afield as China.

McGaw and Reid claimed they walked away from the operation when Etizolam changed from a 'legal high' to an illegal drug.

Etizolam was initially a legal high but, after a number of deaths were linked to it, the law was changed and it became an illegal drug on May 26 last year.

Detective Constable Greig Baxter, a drug specialist with Police Scotland's STOP unit, said: “This was the biggest production of Etizolam I've ever attended.

"I know of no-one who has come across a pill press operation as large as this in the UK.

“In March 2017, Etizolam was selling for 50p or £1 a pill. We found 1,676,094 tablets on the premises. If sold for £1 a tablet, this would realise £1,676,000."

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Initially only Reid, Ingle and Conway were charged but McGaw was added to the indictment after incriminating texts between him and Ingle came to light.

In one text, Ingle referred to the machinery in the drug factory being fixed after breaking down.

He wrote: “It is purring like a Cheshire cat.”

McGaw replied: “Yeah, we're up and running.”

None of the accused gave evidence during the trial.

Solicitor advocate Bob Mitchell, representing McGaw, said: “He is the franchise holder for a hair transplant company in Scotland and Ireland. He maintains the position he took at trial but accepts what he did is at least morally wrong and is ashamed of himself.”

QC Brian McConnachie, representing Reid, said: “His criminal background is extremely limited. His position remains the same as it was at trial. It is a grey area. At the time, corner shops were selling these items.”