Yahoo News One of UK's most wanted men jailed for plot to smuggle £76m of cocaine into UK hidden in bananas
One of the UK's most wanted criminals, who masterminded a plot to smuggle £76 million worth of cocaine into Britain hidden in banana shipments from Ecuador, has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
James Stevenson, 59, also known as 'The Iceman', admitted his guilt midway through his trial at Glasgow High Court on charges of orchestrating a serious criminal offence of importing cocaine and involvement in organised crime through the production and supply of etizolam, a street drug commonly referred to as 'street valium'.
The case was heard again in court on Wednesday when Stevenson received his sentence. Four other men who confessed their guilt during the trial are also awaiting sentencing.
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The court had previously heard how Border Force officers at Dover Port intercepted 18 banana shipments addressed to Glasgow Fruit Market between May and September 2020. These shipments contained cocaine with a purity of 73%, weighing nearly a tonne and valued at £76 million on the streets.
David Bilsland, 67, a fruit market trader, pleaded guilty to agreeing to import cocaine, while co-defendant Paul Bowes, 53, admitted to being involved in organised crime linked to the production and supply of class C drug etizolam at various locations including the Nurai Island Resort in Abu Dhabi, London and Rochester, Kent. Stevenson's stepson, Gerard Carbin, 44, and fellow defendant Ryan McPhee, 34, also confessed to being involved in organised crime through the production and supply of etizolam.
The plot was foiled by French law enforcement officers who infiltrated the encrypted EncroChat network in April 2020. Lloyd Cross, 32, owner of a vehicle recovery firm, pleaded guilty to involvement in the plot before the trial and is also due to be sentenced on Wednesday.
The court previously heard that 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 that 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 that 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.
