Gang members associated with a Scots crime boss who masterminded a plot to smuggle £100 million of cocaine from Ecuador in boxes of bananas have been sentenced to a total of 29 years in prison.
James Stevenson, known as “The Iceman”, pleaded guilty midway through a trial at the High Court in Glasgow and was today jailed to 20 years for importating cocaine and being involved in organised crime through the production and supply of etizolam, often known as street Valium.
Five gangsters linked to the 59-year-old were also sentenced today over the serious organised crime. Vehicle recovery firm owner Lloyd Cross, 32, who plead guilty to his involvement in the plot before the trial, was sentenced to six years in prison.
Fruit market trader David Bilsland, 68, who pleaded guilty to a charge of agreeing to import cocaine on August 29, 2024, was also sentenced to six years.
Paul Bowes, 53, joined the list of convicted criminals, for his involvement linked to the production and supply of class C drug etizolam at a string of premises including the Nurai Island Resort in Abu Dhabi, in London and in Rochester, Kent. He was also handed a six-year sentence.
Ryan McPhee, 34, received a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to being involved in organised crime through the production and supply of etizolam on August 28, 2024. Lastly, Gerard Carbin, 45, was handed a seven-year sentence after also pleading guilty to the same charge as McPhee on August 28, 2024.
Each hood now be subject to confiscation action under the Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover monies illegally gained, and be subject to serious crime prevention orders – designed to disrupt organised crime activity – to be considered at a future hearing.
The court previously heard Border Force officers at the Port of Dover seized 18 consignments of bananas addressed to Glasgow Fruit Market between May and September 2020. They contained cocaine with a purity of 73%, weighing almost a tonne and with a street value of £76 million.
The plot was smashed by French law enforcement officers who infiltrated the encrypted EncroChat network in April 2020. The court previously heard Stevenson and Bilsland, a trader at Glasgow Fruit Market, met at a hotel in Alicante, Spain, to discuss the plan on February 14, 2020.
Messages suggested Cross and Stevenson met in a park to discuss plans in April 2020, while Bilsland arranged banana consignments and colluded with Cross to use their businesses to fund the importation of drugs, with recovery vehicles used to deliver and collect cash, the court heard.
The court was also told delivery was being arranged of more than 13 million street Valium pills and during a raid in Rochester in June 2020, equipment capable of producing 258,000 pills per hour was discovered.
Stevenson was arrested, released and later fled to the Netherlands, but he was captured there in 2022 and extradited. Stevenson and Carbin were both jailed in 2007 for organised crime, and the National Crime Agency named the older man as one of the UK’s most wanted men in 2022.
Deputy Crown Agent Kenny Donnelly, who leads the fight against serious organised crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “James Stevenson and his criminal associates were involved in drug trafficking on an industrial and global scale.
“But they have been brought to justice thanks to an extensive operation involving Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency, working with COPFS, to investigate and dismantle their network of drug supply. This also included Stevenson being directly involved in the manufacturing of millions of Etizolam tablets at a pill factory in Kent.
“Our message is clear: we will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of drug traffickers. They will be caught, they will be prosecuted, and they will be brought to account for their crimes through the courts. The sentences imposed reflect the gravity of the offences committed by Stevenson and his co-accused.
“It was clear from the EncroChat messages that, as the ringleader, he directed the group. The cocaine they were planning to distribute would have undoubtedly contributed to misery in our communities.
“These convictions are testament to the forensic and meticulous work undertaken by specialist Crown Office prosecutors to bring Stevenson and his five co-accused to justice and I would like to commend their efforts.”
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