TWO men involved in a plot to bring £1.5 million worth of drugs into Scotland hidden in a load of watermelons have been jailed.
Scott McSeveney, 37, of Shotts, masterminded the cross-border plan and enlisted HGV company owner Steven Lawson, 48, also of Shotts, to transport the haul of cannabis from Spain.
However, the scheme unravelled when Lawson was stopped by Border Force officers on the return journey at the Eurotunnel port in France.
This was due to an anomaly being identified in the load.
Officers, working on behalf of the Organised Crime Partnership Scotland (OCP), then discovered 159 packages of the Class-B drug with a combined weight of 155kg in boxes labelled as watermelons.
McSeveny was jailed for eight years and two months at the High Court in Glasgow today after admitting to being concerned in the supply and sale of controlled drugs.
The charge was aggravated by a connection to Serious Organised Crime.
Meanwhile, Lawson was sentenced to five years in custody after being found guilty following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow of being concerned in Serious Organised Crime between April and July 2020.
Both men were made subject to Serious Crime Prevention Orders, which will last for three years on their release from prison.
Sineidin Corrins, Depute Procurator Fiscal for Serious Casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “These two men were integral to an attempt to import large quantities of Class B drugs into Scotland.
“But they failed thanks to partnership working between COPFS and the National Crime Agency, Border Force and Police Scotland to disrupt a network of drug supply.
“These drugs would have caused immense harm. But with these convictions, we have removed them from the streets and made communities safer.
“We will continue to collaborate with our partners as a member of Scotland’s Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce to tackle serious organised crime, and this kind of case highlights the extensive work that has been ongoing against these groups.”
The court heard how police surveillance officers saw McSeveney at the offices of MCL Transport in Bellshill, a haulage firm owned by Lawson.
Around the same time, he was identified as using the encrypted EncroChat, with the handle ‘frank.n.furter’, to discuss with associates ways to traffic cannabis from Europe inside a heavy goods vehicle.
In the messages, he referred to an individual – later revealed to be Lawson – who could drive the vehicle to Europe with a legitimate load and return carrying drugs.
There were also discussions about modifying the vehicle to allow drugs to be imported without being detected.
Lawson left the UK in July 2020 and collected the drugs.
These were hidden inside 30 pallets of watermelons from the Spanish town of Benicassim.
However, when the lorry arrived at the Eurotunnel border check at Coquelles in France, officers ordered the pallets to be offloaded.
This is when the discovery was made.
Lawson, who denied all knowledge of the drugs, was arrested, and police later detained McSeveney at his home.
The seized drugs were valued at around £604,200, but if subdivided into smaller amounts, they could have had a street value of £1,590,000.
Both men will now be made subject to confiscation action under Proceeds of Crime laws.
This is to recover monies illegally made.
