Two thugs have been caged for trying to force a heroin baron linked to an Ardrossan dealer to hand over £150,000 he owed for a luxury car debt.

Kyle Byrne and George Stewart went to Sultan Mohammed’s home and threatened him over the six-figure sum he is said to owe for luxury Range Rovers.

Mohammed was jailed for five years and three months in 2011 after cops busted his huge heroin empire – which spanned from the north of England to the west of Scotland.

Ardrossan man Daniel Keogh and a number of other associates were each jailed for three years for their roles in the drug ring.

The High Court in Glasgow heard Mohammed masterminded a network of couriers to distribute £200,000 worth of heroin from Yorkshire to Ayrshire.

Cash totalling £80,000 was later found during a raid on his home after surveillance cops had tailed him and his associates for four-months.

And Byrne, 28, and Stewart, 31, went to his home in Barrhead on July 23 this year to try and get him to pay up.

The details emerged when the pair appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court to admit their guilt over the incident.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Keri Marshall explained: “The witness Mohammed was within his home address with family members when he noticed the light of a vehicle pulling in to his driveway, and the car parked to the side of the house, and two males got out of the front of the vehicle.

“On hearing a knock at the door, the complainer went to the door.

“Byrne stated to the complainer they were, ‘friends of Fati’ and ‘wanted to chat’.

“The complainer let the males enter the house and took them through to the back lounge.”

Byrne told Mohammed he owed £150,000, but Mohammed insisted he did not owe any money, did not have any money, and would not be paying any money.

Byrne replied: “A debt’s a debt and it has to be paid.”

Miss Marshall added: “The complainer spoke with both men for some time but eventually asked them both to leave his house and, as they were leaving, Byrne said, ‘we’ll be back - and next time we won’t be so friendly’.

“This was overheard by the complainer’s son, who was also in the house at the time.

“Both the complainer and his son were alarmed by these comments.”

Stewart had agreed with all the comments, which were made by Byrne, and that night Mohammed reported the matter to police.

Defence solicitor Paul Kavanagh, representing both men, said: “They were there to collect a legitimate debt, as they were told, in relation to the purchase of high-value Range Rovers - and there were four Range Rovers sitting outside the house.

“The debt seems to be of a legitimate nature, for the purchase of these high-value Range Rovers.”

They had been charged with “putting him a state of fear and alarm and apprehension of intimidation and threats and for the purpose of extorting £150,000 that he owed to a known third party [...] that unless he paid said debt [they] would use violence against him and his family.”

But they pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive way by requesting payment of a debt, in breach of Section 38(1) of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

And Sheriff James Spy ruled there was only one way he could deal with the men - and caged them for eight months, reduced from 12 months as they admitted their guilt at the earliest opportunity.

When sentencing Mohammed over his drug ring in 2011, Judge Lord Matthews told him he would have been jailed for seven years but for his guilty plea.

Speaking after sentencing, Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Mole, from the now-defunct Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: “Sultan Mohammed was not caught in possession of any illegal substances.

“However, our investigation revealed that he played a key role in a serious organised crime group which was supplying significant amounts of class A drugs intended for distribution on Scotland’s streets.

“Working with a network of criminal associates, who were moving significant amounts of illegal drugs and cash, this individual was involved in a major drug dealing conspiracy operating across Scotland and England.”