AN alleged Scots cocaine kingpin is accused of orchestrating a worldwide drug provide plot from a millionaire’s paradise island off the coast of Abu Dhabi.
James Stevenson is claimed to have been on the prime of a severe organised crime gang concerned in a world medication and soiled cash racket.
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The 57-year-old and 6 others are stated to have been concerned in an unlawful importation scheme stretching from Scotland to Spain, Ecuador and the United Arab Emirates.
The case known as in the present day on the Excessive Court docket in Glasgow the place a date was set for an evidential listening to in September earlier than an anticipated trial in August subsequent 12 months.
One of many places named in a seven-page indictment is the Nurai Island Resort – one of the crucial unique personal getaways on earth.
Stevenson is accused of utilizing a Glasgow fruit market as a entrance for a multi-million pound plan to flood Scotland with tonnes of white powder.
It’s claimed Stevenson and his gang have been working the unlawful operation between January and September 2020 when the world was within the grip of the covid pandemic.
Stevenson is the one one of many seven in all 14 fees alongside co-accused David Bilsland, 66, LLoyd Cross, 30, Gerard Carbin, 42, Paul Bowes, 51, Ryan McPhee, 42, all of Glasgow, and Garry Mcintyre, 42, of Brentford.
Prosecutors allege Stevenson, Bilsland, McIntyre and Cross have been concerned in a cocaine importation plot between January 25 and September 21.
The alleged scheme is claimed to have been carried out at Glasgow Fruit Market, Kennedy Road, Glasgow, and at Glasgow Fruit Market Scotland Ltd in Port Dundas Buying and selling Property, in addition to quite a few different addresses within the metropolis.
Different places recognized embody the Dover Western Docks Cargo Terminal, Lodge Melia in Alicante, Spain, Puerto Bolivar in Ecuador and the posh Nurai Island Resort, Abu Dhabi.
It’s claimed the 4 have been “knowingly involved within the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on importation of managed medication”.
They’re additional accused of being “involved within the supplying of a managed drug, particularly Cocaine” and that the offences “aggravated by a reference to severe organised crime”.
Stevenson additionally faces claims he “did direct” Cross, Bilsland and “others” to commit a severe offence “by concealing Cocaine in deliveries of imported fruit” destined for Glasgow Fruit Market.
The cost goes on to accuse the trio of transferring “legal property, particularly cash and to make use of stated cash to finance the set-up of the importation operation”,
It alleges the cash was additionally used to buy gear for Glasgow Fruit Market and Glasgow Fruit Market Scotland Ltd in addition to to “lease premises, purchase motor autos and register firm administrators for the Glasgow Fruit Market below false names, all on your monetary achieve”.
Stevenson can be accused together with Carbin, Bowes andMcPhee of worrying within the provide of Class C medication Etizola and Alprazolam between March 29 and June 12 that 12 months from properties in Glasgow, East Kilbride, Larkhall, London and the Abu Dhabi resort.
They face additional claims of being concerned in “the manufacturing and provide of drugs with a Xanax commerce mark” as a part of the alleged plot.
Stevenson can be accused of utilizing “encrypted communications gadgets” to rearrange the “assortment, storage and onward provide” of money – referred to in court docket papers as “legal property” – price round £1,014,250.
This alleged “money-laundering” scheme is claimed to have taken place between March 31 and April 213 in 2020 and two Glasgow addresses, the Nurai Island Resort, and elsewhere.
Stevenson is additional accused of agreeing with one other man to “use encrypted communications gadgets and hid hides in motor autos in furtherance of stated severe organised crime”.
Stevenson faces additional allegations that between Could 6 and Could 11, 2020, he conspired with two different males to set fireplace to properties, vehicles and a salon.
It’s claimed Stevenson “did instruct” his alleged co-conspirators to set fireplace to a house in Dennyloanhead, close to Cumbernauld, on Could 9, inflicting “substantial harm”.
The cost additional states two properties in Airdrie have been additionally allegedly focused earlier than CeCe’s Hair, Make-up and Magnificence, in Bothwell Street, Hamilton, suffered “harm to the doorway door and the inside of the property” in an alleged fireplace atack on Could 11.
All seven accused deny the fees and the case is because of name once more on the Excessive Court docket in Glasgow subsequent month.
