Drugs trial hears £1m of cash found in house

The trial has heard how drugs were discovered in a banana box shipment at Dover

A drugs trial has been told that police discovered more than a million pounds in cash during the search of a house in Glasgow.

Most of the money was in heat-sealed plastic packages inside four Lidl supermarket bags.

The discovery was revealed during the trial of six men allegedly involved in a worldwide drug trafficking operation.

Prosecutors at the High Court in Glasgow have listed 14 charges in a seven-page indictment of accusations which span between January and September 2020.

The trial, which began on Monday, has heard how in September 2020, Border Force officials discovered a tonne of cocaine hidden in a banana box shipment.

The shipment had arrived at Dover from Ecuador and was addressed to a business in Glasgow.

In the boxes, they found 119 foil packages containing 952kg of cocaine with a purity level of 73%.

The drugs were concealed in deliveries of fruit destined for the “Glasgow Fruit Market” at an address in the city’s Townhead.

Dirty money is said to have funded the set-up involving the purchase of equipment, leasing premises, buying cars and registering company directors under fake names for the “Glasgow Fruit Market”.

It is alleged James Stevenson, 59, headed up the operation and teamed up with another man for the “collection, storage and onward transmission” of £1.04m of criminal funds.

Jurors were told that in April 2020 the home of Laura and Brian Noble in Glasgow’s Robroyston was found to contain £1.15m in cash.

A total of £996,060 of the cash was kept in heat-sealed plastic packages, and DNA and thumb prints belonging to Laura Noble’s brother Stephen O’Donnell was found on some of the bags.

A search of O’Donnell’s home in the city’s Lambhill found a total of £76,320 of cash of which £70,070 was kept in heat-sealed packets.

The jurors were told that O’Donnell later pled guilty to possession of criminal property of £1,092,290 and received a two-year prison sentence.

Prosecutors have listed 14 charges in a seven-page indictment of accusations at the High Court in Glasgow

James Stevenson has denied directing O’Donnell to be involved in money laundering.

He has incriminated John Gurie in his special defence for two charges involving serious organised crime and cocaine.

The jury was told that Gurie was jailed for six years in 2020 after police searched his home, car, van and a lock-up garage and found various quantities of cocaine, cash, and a hydraulic press used to bind together powdered adulterated drugs.

Further special defences of incrimination have been lodged by James Stevenson against Lloyd Cross, James White, and Stephen Jamieson whose present whereabouts are unknown.

The trial before Judge Lord Ericht continues.