Man with links to crime boss jailed for role in £8m drugs raid

A convicted drug smuggler with links to a major gangster has been jailed for six years for his role in an £8m cocaine bust.

Charles McAughey, 65, was arrested in December after police discovered 100 blocks of the Class A drug behind a hidden compartment in a lorry in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire.

McAughey, who has connections to Jamie "Iceman" Stevenson, admitted to being involved in serious organised crime.

He appeared in the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh alongside 29-year-old Scott Bannatyne, who was jailed for three years after he also admitted drugs trafficking offences.

McAughey had previously been jailed at the Criminal Court of Marseille in France in 2017 in a similar drug trafficking plot.

The court heard it involved driving a lorry with 684kg of cocaine intended for delivery to Glasgow.

Passing sentence, Lord Arthurson told McAughey and Bannatyne they both had to go to prison.

The judge said McAughey had accrued eight groups of previous convictions.

McAughey was said to be involved in a drug raid in Montpellier, France in 2009 after cocaine was found hidden among a delivery of coffee beans and cash registers.

It was linked to the Gillespie Brothers and McAughey's then home in Bothwell was among several properties searched.

He was not convicted over the discovery but later jailed in 2017 for other drug offences.

The court also heard McAughey had links to Jamie "Iceman" Stevenson.

In 2024 Stevenson was jailed for 16 years for orchestrating a plot to smuggle cocaine worth £100m from South America in boxes of bananas.

Meanwhile James and Barry Gillespie, who are long-time targets of Police Scotland's Operation Escalade, are believed to have been killed while on the run in Brazil.

At a hearing in Glasgow last month, Lord Arthurson heard how police learned McAughey and another person were to take possession of a huge drug haul at Righead Industrial Estate on 11 December 2025.

During surveillance he was seen driving a lorry in convoy with another truck.

The two drivers reversed into the industrial estate and entered the yard building with another person before police arrived.

A sniffer dog was sent to check the vehicles and there was a "strong chemical smell" coming from the back of the HGV.

A later check initially found the lorry to be completely empty but there was a false wall covered by a metal grid at the front of the trailer.

Officers removed a thin panel to reveal a small space where 100 blocks of cocaine - some with a purity as high as 81% - were hidden.

The prosecutor said the potential value was £8,006,416.

The other person is said to have arrived in Scotland having travelled through a number of countries including the Netherlands and Germany.

The court heard McAughey was also linked to earlier cocaine handover on 12 March 2025 in Newmains, Lanarkshire.

He was caught getting out his van clutching a heavy box and handing it to Scott Bannatyne, who then drove off in his own vehicle.

Bannatyne was followed to a nearby property, which was later raided by officers.

Police found the box with four blocks of cocaine inside in the kitchen.

A total of £3,330 cash was also seized as well as substances used to bulk out drugs to maximise profits.

McAughey's advocate Brian McConnachie KC told Lord Arthurson his client was going to turn over a new leaf upon his release from prison.

He added: "He is determined to stay on the straight and narrow."

Bannatyne's lawyer Calum Weir said his client had a young family and was starting out in "business" when he was arrested.

Mr Weir added: "His arrest has been catastrophic for his family."

Lord Arthurson also told McAughey he'd be made the subject of a three-year long serious crime prevention order upon his release from custody.

This order places strict controls on who McAughey can associate with and what he can do once he is released from jail.