Scotland’s “Tony Soprano” smuggled cocaine in banana boxes

A notorious gangster has admitted hatching a plan to smuggle almost a tonne of cocaine from South America to Scotland hidden in a shipment of bananas.

Jamie Stevenson, known as the “Iceman”, has pleaded guilty to ordering the importation of the drug, which was seized by border guard teams in Dover in September 2020.

The National Crime Agency and Scottish police were involved in the seizure, called Operation Pepperoni. The NCA estimated the value of the cocaine at the time at £100 million.

The cocaine packages were hidden in banana boxes from Ecuador and addressed to a fruit dealer in Glasgow.

The operation spanned the UK, Spain, Ecuador and Abu Dhabi.

Stevenson, from Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, was a leading figure at the highest levels of organised crime in Scotland.

He was once described as Scotland's answer to Tony Soprano, the mafia boss from the television series “The Sopranos”.

The 59-year-old was charged with murdering his best man and criminal accomplice Tony McGovern outside a pub in Glasgow in 2001 – but the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.

Six years later, after being targeted in a groundbreaking undercover police investigation, Stevenson admitted laundering more than £1 million of dirty money.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison but was released in 2014.

The prison sentence did not put an end to Stevenson’s criminal career.

In the summer of 2020, he was wanted again after police seized 28 million “street Valium” etizolam tablets from a pill factory in Kent.

Etizolam is responsible for hundreds of drug-related deaths in Scotland.

Stevenson was arrested but released on bail to leave the country. The cocaine seizure followed in Dover in September of the same year.

In 2022, Stevenson was added to a list of The twelve wanted men from Great Britain and within a few weeks he was back in prison.

A joint operation by the NCA, Scottish Police and the Dutch National Police led to his Arrested while jogging in Bergen op Zoom after a period of surveillance.

Stevenson was extradited to the UK and stood trial this month alongside six other men at the High Court in Glasgow.

Evidence began on Monday with Stevenson denying a total of 14 charges, but the 59-year-old has now admitted his role in cocaine smuggling and the manufacture and supply of etizolam.

According to the jury, it took officers three days to find cocaine hidden in banana boxes from Ecuador.

On Wednesday, two other men, 45-year-old Gerard Carbin and 34-year-old Ryan McPhee, pleaded guilty to serious organised crime and the production and supply of a Class C drug, etizolam.

Fruit seller David Bisland, 67, Garry McIntyre, 43, and 53-year-old Paul Bowes remain in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.

In a seven-page indictment, prosecutors listed 14 charges spanning the period from January to September 2020.