A DRUGS dealer caught with four illegal shotguns was jailed for a

total of 17 years at the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday.

Ronald Cormack, 38, a father of three, of The Square, Rosehearty,

Aberdeenshire, was found guilty of being concerned in the supplying of

ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, and cannabis between April 1993 and December

last year.

The jury also convicted Cormack of assaulting Essex builder Mr

Dharamjit Sahota last May at Hillhead of Potterton, by repeatedly

kicking and punching him on the head and body, compressing his throat,

placing a pistol against his head, forcing a bullet into his mouth, and

threatening to kill him.

Cormack was further convicted of illegally possessing three sawn-off

shotguns, a pump-action shotgun, a stun gun, and 148 rounds of

ammunition of various calibres.

A charge alleging he possessed a sub-machine gun had earlier been

dropped by the Crown.

The jury's majority verdicts followed a trial lasting nearly four

weeks, during which Mr Sahota told how Cormack made him chew a bullet

after putting a gun into his mouth following a dispute over money

allegedly owed to a third party.

Jailing Cormack, Lord Marnoch told him: ''I am satisfied that you were

heavily involved in all the drugs specified.'' The Judge noted that the

firearms and ammunition involved had been ''numerous and dangerous''.

The Crown yesterday made a motion for a drugs profits investigation

hearing on Cormack. This was fixed for July 7.