Scotland's 'Tony Soprano' jailed for 20 years after £76m cocaine plot trial

James Stevenson was described by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency as operating in “much the same way as the Sopranos ran their business as shown on television”.
One of the UK’s most wanted men who plotted to smuggle £76 million of cocaine into Britain from Ecuador in consignments of bananas has been jailed for 20 years.

James Stevenson, 59, also known as The Iceman, pleaded guilty mid-trial at the High Court in Glasgow to two charges – directing a serious criminal offence of importation of cocaine, and being involved in organised crime through production and supply of etizolam, known as street valium.

He was jailed for 20 years when the case was called at the court on Wednesday.

Four other men who admitted their guilt mid-trial are also due to be sentenced.

The court previously heard Border Force officers at the Port of Dover seized 18 consignments of bananas addressed to Glasgow Fruit Market between May and September 2020.

They contained cocaine with a purity of 73 per cent, weighing almost a tonne and with a street value of £76 million.

Fruit market trader David Bilsland, 67, entered a guilty plea to a charge of agreeing to import cocaine and co-accused Paul Bowes, 53, pleaded guilty to being involved in organised crime linked to the production and supply of class C drug etizolam at a string of premises including the Nurai Island Resort in Abu Dhabi, in London and in Rochester, Kent.

Stevenson’s stepson, Gerard Carbin, 44, and co-accused Ryan McPhee, 34, admitted being involved in organised crime through the production and supply of etizolam.

The plot was smashed by French law enforcement officers who infiltrated the encrypted EncroChat network in April 2020.