Men who tried to smuggle £1.5m of cannabis into Scotland in lorry of watermelons jailed

Two men have been jailed after plotting to hide £1.5m of cannabis in a lorry load of watermelons and move it into Scotland.

Scott McSeveney, 37, arranged to move 155kg of cannabis into Scotland via a lorry load of fruit coming from Spain.

McSeveney, from Shotts, recruited HGV company owner Steven Lawson, 48, to transport the haul of 159 packages labelled as watermelons.

However, the operation was unravelled when Lawson was stopped by Border Force officers, working on behalf of the National Crime Agency and Police Scotland officers in the Organised Crime Partnership Scotland, on the return journey at the Eurotunnel port in France after they found an anomaly in his load.

The drugs were transported inside boxes containing watermelons. COPFS

At the High Court in Glasgow, McSeveney was jailed for eight years and two months after he admitted being concerned in the supply and sale of controlled drugs.

The charge was aggravated by a connection to Serious Organised Crime.

Lawson, also of Shotts, was imprisoned for five years after he was found guilty following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow of being concerned in Serious Organised Crime between April and July 2020.

Both accused were made subject of Serious Crime Prevention Orders which will last three years upon their release from custody.

The HGV was used to ferry the drugs from Spain. COPFS

The court heard how police surveillance officers saw McSeveney at the offices of MCL Transport in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, a haulage firm owned by Lawson.

McSeveney was also identified using the encrypted Encrochat platform, favoured by criminals, discussing with associates ways to traffic cannabis from Europe inside a heavy goods vehicle.

In the messages, he referred to an individual, later revealed as co-accused Lawson, who could drive the vehicle to Europe with a legitimate load and return carrying drugs.

Lawson left Britain in July 2020 and collected the drugs, which were hidden inside 30 pallets of watermelons, from the Spanish town of Benicassim.

When the lorry arrived at the Eurotunnel border check at Coquelles, France, officers ordered the consignment to be offloaded where the haul of cannabis was discovered.

The seized drugs were valued at approximately £604,200, but if sub-divided into smaller amounts, could have had a street value of £1,590,000.

Sineidin Corrins, depute procurator Fiscal for Serious Casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said the drugs would have caused immense home if operation wasn’t stopped.

“These two men were integral to an attempt import large quantities of Class B drugs into Scotland,” they said.

“But they failed thanks to partnership working between COPFS and the National Crime Agency, Border Force and Police Scotland to disrupt a network of drugs supply.

“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.”

Donald Lawrie, NCA operations manager, said McSeveney sent thousands of messages in an attempt to get his criminal venture off the ground.

“He was well versed in what he thought were the best ways to evade law enforcement,” he added.

“The NCA’s work in the Organised Crime Partnership, and with our partners in Border Force, has seen two criminals brought to justice.”