Scotland’s Biggest Drugs Ring Broken

Police said yesterday they had smashed Scotland’s biggest drugs ring after detaining 11 people in a series of dawn raids in the west of the country and Amsterdam. Fifteen properties were searched during the operation, which was the culmination of a three-year international drug-smuggling investigation.

Led by Scottish detectives, Operation Folklore has already seen nine convictions for drug dealing and money laundering, and the seizure of 12 tonnes of narcotics worth about £61 million.

One hundred and fifty officers took part in yesterday’s, raids, in Castlemilk, Cathcart, and Burnside in Glasgow.

They also swooped on a property in nearby East Kilbride, as well as on another in an upmarket residential district of Amsterdam.

Computers and documents were seized, along with drugs and a five-figure sum of cash. It is understood no one was detained in the swoop in the Netherlands, although police did recover some items.

Police believe that the alleged drugs gang was supplying drugs throughout Scotland.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Ward, of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: “Today has seen us target several individuals.

“We did recover some drugs today, but the predominant seizures have been made in the past.

“This type of operation, which involves painstaking intelligence-gathering over many months is the way forward as far as we are concerned.”

Mr Ward said that the extensive operation was the biggest yet mounted by the elite crime-fighting agency. The nine people so far convicted in relation to Operation Folklore include John Gorman, from Irvine, who in April received 12 years for drug dealing and money laundering.

He was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow of supplying heroin, cocaine and cannabis in Ayrshire with a street value of £362,000.

Gorman had originally been accused of drug smuggling but the prosecution withdrew that charge due to insufficient evidence.

Gorman owned a converted trawler, called the Squilla, which in June 2005 was intercepted by police off western Spain carrying a cargo of cannabis worth £24 million.

Eight men aged 26, 27, 28 (two), 38, 41, 45 and 50, along with three women aged 30, 48 and 63, were detained in yesterday’s raids.

Eight of those, six men and two women, have been charged and are expected to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court today.

Mr Ward said the operation was the product of close co-operation between national and international law enforcement agencies.

“Organised crime is led by ruthless and dangerous individuals who seek to make profit from the pain and suffering of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

“The public rightly expect our response to this to be co-ordinated and robust,” he said.

“With the ongoing support of our politicians, the public and our law enforcement partners, the SCDEA will continue to work hard to ensure that Scotland’s communities are protected from the misery created by organised crime,” Mr Ward said.