Officers were watching the bar of Alicante's four-star Melia Hotel as part of Operation Pepperoni after tracking a dodgy Glaswegian fruit seller there.
A notorious gangster dubbed Scotland's Tony Soprano was posing as a British tourist in Spain when he was unwittingly caught up in a police surveillance operation that led to his downfall.
In a T-shirt and jeans the gangster, once the key suspect in a murder case involving his own best man, was confident he passed off as just another British tourist - and completely unaware he was under surveillance. His demise was sealed at the fateful Valentine's Day meeting, where Stevenson held a conversation with Bilsland about using shipments of bananas as a cover for smuggling in a tonne of cocaine worth £100million.Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency had already formed an organised crime partnership to target top-tier criminals and Stevenson was high on their list.
He panicked when he saw plain clothes officers pour out of a car, assuming he was being targeted in a gangland hit. A raid on a pill factory linked to Stevenson in Kent led to the seizure of 28 million Etizolam 'street valium' tablets. This placed the case in an English jurisdiction, so Stevenson was taken south of the Border.He was eventually rearrested in 2022 while out jogging in the historic Netherland's city of Bergen op Zoom.
Stevenson was then jailed for more than 12 years in 2007 after laundering more than £1million of dirty money.The gangster and five of his associates are now behind bars after being snared as part of the joint Police Scotland and National Crime Agency probe, Operation Pepperoni. Stevenson, known in underworld circles as 'The Iceman', was also involved in the production and supply of street valiumA pill press that was seized as part of a major police operation targeting drug smugglersHe was arrested for the first time at the Sherbrooke Castle Hotel in Pollokshields - and tried to run away thinking it was a gangland hit
Read More Scottish gangster faces life in jail after being convicted of assassinating Dutch crime blogger who was shot eight times outside sex club Sentencing Stevenson, Lord Ericht said: 'Cash was provided by you to fund David Bilsland's apparently legitimate business, removing Mr Bilsland from director and replacing him with a vulnerable individual without their knowledge.
McPhee was told: 'You agreed to take 2.5 million of etizolam pills and transport them. You delivered one million tablets, and another delivery Mr Carbin discussed with you was five million. The delivery was not meant to be a one off.' Defending Bilsland, Gary Allan KC said: 'He realised beyond any doubt he had been involved in criminal enterprise at a meeting in Alicante where he learnt his fruit business was being used for the importation of drugs.
Law enforcement agencies welcomed the jailing of Stevenson and his gang, saying the international operation to smash their drug trafficking plot had 'undoubtedly saved lives' in Britain. 'The NCA and our partners will continue to employ every possible tactic to target offenders who pose such a threat to the public.'
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