COKE HAUL IS BANANAS

Illicit cargo hidden in fruit boxes would pay life-changing wages, bragged crime boss

- CONNOR GORDON

CRIME boss Jamie "Iceman" Stevenson boasted how his worldwide drug smuggling ring would rake in "life-changing" amounts of cash.

The 59-year-old last week pled guilty to trying to import £76million of cocaine from Ecuador in boxes of bananas intercepted at Dover.

Stevenson was also in charge of a street valium pill factory that could churn out 250,000 tablets an hour.

Stevenson was back in the dock yesterday as prosecutors revealed the scale of the huge trafficking operation.

He was again joined at the High Court in Glasgow by five associates who also admitted involvement.

Prosecutor Alex Prentice KC revealed during the hearing - in a 13-page narrative of facts - the inner workings of the mob and how the operation was smashed when authorities hacked into the EncroChat phone network favoured by criminals.

Stevenson's right-hand man in the operation was Lloyd Cross, 32.

David Bilsland, 67, owner of Glasgow Fruit Market Limited, was used to give the drug trafficking an air of legitimacy.

Bilsland mainly dealt with Cross, who passed on Stevenson's instructions, on EncroChat.

Stevenson and Bilsland were then clocked by Spanish police meeting at a hotel in Alicante in 2020.

Mr Prentice said: "The operation, as it developed, involved cash being provided by Stevenson, Cross and others to fund Bilsland's apparently legitimate imports." There were texts between Stevenson and Cross discussing the set-up. To keep an arm's length, Bilsland was to be removed as "company director".

A person described as "vulnerable" in England was instead duped to give his signature to be registered as a director.

Cross texted Bilsand: "How you getting on with the new director?" He replied: "Hi mate.