An elderly SNP politician has been arrested and charged with drug offences after police discovered a massive cannabis farm worth half-a-million pounds at a country property.
Councillor Aileen Orr, 71, was at the centre of the huge drugs bust in the Borders in February last year, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Officers swooped on a farmhouse on the outskirts of the village of Paxton in Berwickshire after receiving a 999 call from Mrs Orr amid a suspected break-in.
Yet when they arrived at the large home, set back from winding countryside roads, they could not locate any burglars.
Instead, they stumbled upon a cannabis cultivation with a street value of around £500,000.
A Police Scotland spokesman last night confirmed a 70-year-old was arrested and charged last year, as was a 29-year-old. A report is due to be submitted to prosecutors and a court date will be set in due course.
The scandal sent shockwaves through the remote village of Paxton, which boasts glorious scenery and a sleepy pace of life for local residents.
The idyllic haven’s calm was shattered on the night of February 3, 2024, when Mrs Orr, who has previously worked for former SNP president and Nicola Sturgeon ally Mike Russell, called police after two men tried to break into a country house she was staying in.
The property in the Borders at the centre of the drugs inquiry
She told a fringe event at the SNP conference last year that she feared for her life as two ‘violent’ men entered the farmhouse in the middle of the night.
And in the address to the Scottish Police Federation’s gathering, which was also attended by Justice Secretary Angela Constance, she complained that it took officers 29 minutes to reach her, by which time the intruders had fled.
The councillor, who has written a book about Wojtek, a 500-pound beer-drinking brown bear who was adopted as a Polish Army mascot in the Second World War before ending up in Edinburgh Zoo, told the audience that she had a ‘very, very good relationship with the local police’, but said she suffered extreme fear while waiting for their response.
Mrs Orr did not tell the Justice Secretary and other attending the conference that she and a 29-year-old were arrested that night in relation to the cannabis cultivation.
Looked at from the roadside, the grand farmhouse has a prominent presence against the rugged landscape, with the home resembling a large country pile. Huge cattle sheds can also be seen from public paths and next to the main house there is also a greenhouse.
It is not known exactly where the cannabis was located by police.
A stock image of cannabis plants shown growing in an indoor facility
Once cannabis plants have reached maturity, often with the aid of high-intensity heat lamps, they can be trimmed and them dried – a process known as curing – which breaks down the chlorophyll in the leaves.
Under UK sentencing guidelines, those found buying equipment and paying energy costs to cultivate 100 plants or more would be seen as playing a ‘lead role’ in growing cannabis to sell it and to make money.
Those found to have broken the law by growing the Class B drug can expect to be handed down a prison sentence of up to six years, the official advice states.
Mrs Orr, who was born and raised in Lockerbie in Dumfries-shire before studying at the London School of Economics and later working for the Bank of America, continues to fulfil her role as a councillor for the East Berwickshire ward of Scottish Borders Council.
She was previously a regional director of the Countryside Alliance and also an advisor to Mr Russell when he was an MSP. Police Scotland has said it actually took officers 19 minutes to arrive at the address that night.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘A 70-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man have been arrested and charged in connection with drugs offences after a cannabis cultivation was discovered at a property near Paxton at around 12.55am on Saturday, February 3, 2024.
‘A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal and they are expected to appear at court at a later date.’
