By Ashlie McAnally

A CIVIL engineering student is behind bars after admitting being concerned in the supply of more than £460,000 of drugs.

Nicholas Hampson, 26, from Dalmuir, was snared when officers swooped on the home he shares with his girlfriend and saw bags of white powder and a heavy duty hydraulic press.

As well as drugs there was paraphernelia including tubs, lids, polythene bags and scales.

Hampson pled guilty today at the High Court in Glasgow to being concerned in the supply of cocaine on July 7, last year.

The court heard Hampson lives with his partner and is about to complete a Master's degree in civil engineering.

Advocat depute Rosemary Guinnane said: “Police were made aware of current intelligence that there were multi kilos of controlled drugs within the flat at Dalmuir Court which were in the process of being mixed.”

Police initially went without a warrant for the purposes of “securing evidence”, before any drugs could be moved.

When they went into the house they saw Hampson and his girlfriend who were told they were being detained.

Miss Guinnane said: “Within the first bedroom in full view from the hallway were bags of white powder and a large heavy duty hydraulic press.”

A search warrant was granted and a number of items connected to the mixing of drugs with bulking agents were recovered from the property.

The large 10 tonne press would take four men to move according to police.

Miss Guinnane added: “The largest recovery was a plastic bag containing a block of rock like substance which was found on a glass table in the living room.

“On analysis it was found to be 536.08 grams of cocaine. The purity was analysed and had a purity level of 42 per cent.”

The court heard that it had the potential street value of £224,000.

Nine other packages of cocaine cut with benzocaine and caffeine were taken and were found to be an average purity of 4.4 per cent.

Police also found benzocaine weighing 18.76 kilograms and more than 13 kilograms of caffeine.

Hampson was cautioned and charged after a police interview, and made no comment.

Miss Guinnane told the court: “In effect the maximum valuation of the drugs recovered is in the region of £465,840."

Hampson was remanded in custody and will learn his fate when he returns to the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh next month.