A notorious criminal dubbed The Iceman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a plot to smuggle £76 million worth of cocaine into the UK hidden in consignments of bananas from Ecuador. James Stevenson, 59, pleaded guilty mid-trial at the High Court in Glasgow to charges of directing the importation of cocaine and involvement in organised crime related to the production and supply of drugs. The court heard that Border Force officers at the Port of Dover intercepted 18 shipments of bananas destined for the Glasgow Fruit Market between May and September 2020. These bananas were found to contain cocaine with a purity of 73%, weighing nearly a tonne.
Alongside Stevenson, four other individuals also admitted their guilt mid-trial and are awaiting sentencing. Fruit market trader David Bilsland, Paul Bowes, Stevenson’s stepson Gerard Carbin, and Ryan McPhee were all involved in the criminal operation. The plot was uncovered by French law enforcement officers who infiltrated the encrypted EncroChat network in April 2020. Lloyd Cross, the owner of a vehicle recovery firm, had also pleaded guilty to his involvement in the scheme prior to the trial and is set to be sentenced as well.
The court was presented with evidence showing that Stevenson and Bilsland met in Spain to discuss their plan, while Bilsland arranged for banana consignments to be used in the drug smuggling operation. They collaborated with Cross to finance the importation of drugs using their businesses to handle cash transactions. The group was also planning to distribute millions of street valium pills, with equipment capable of producing a large quantity of pills per hour discovered during a raid in Rochester.
Stevenson, who had previously served time for organised crime, had fled to the Netherlands after his arrest but was apprehended in 2022 and extradited back to the UK. His history of criminal activity led to the National Crime Agency naming him as one of the UK’s most wanted individuals. The successful dismantling of this drug trafficking ring represents a significant blow to the illegal drug trade in the UK.