DRUGS ARE FOR THUGS

Kingpin's right-hand man was self-styled 'top boy' of Rangers ultras

- MARK MCGIVERN

GANGSTER Lloyd Cross went from football hooligan to international cocaine smuggler alongside one of Scotland's biggest criminal kingpins, the Record can reveal.

The rabble rouser styled himself as a "top boy" among Rangers fan group Union Bears, and he was involved in clashes with police in Slovenia in 2018.

But he was sidelined from the "ultra" group after his gangland connections became common knowledge and his focus turned towards the international drugs racket.

A major drug bust revealed Cross, 32, to be the right-hand man of Jamie "Iceman" Stevenson, who masterminded the smuggling of £76million worth of cocaine from South America in 2020.

Cross had also fallen foul of Rangers fans after he was blamed for the leaking of the wording of a banner in 2017 to the rival Green Brigade-which allowed the Celtic ultras to mock their opponents.

One source told the Record: "Cross saw himself as a top boy in the Rangers support, always at the front of the crowd at away games and always on the look-out for bother. He was the kind who'd revel in a riot.

"He also had a high profile on Twitter and was known for noising up Celtic fans.

"But all that stopped presumably when he stepped into the big time in drugs smuggling. He disappeared from Twitter and most traces of him disappeared from social media.