THREE hoods have admitted their part in a drugs importation plot headed up by James ‘The Don’ White – the mob boss who took over the gang run by two missing kingpins brothers.
The trio pleaded guilty just weeks after Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson tried to blame White for orchestrating his cocaine in bananas plot linking Scotland to Ecuador.
John Bonner, Christopher Laycock and David Kelly were working for White and his sidekick Paul ‘The Captain’ Fleming – using a fake solar panel form to hide their shipments.
The High Court in Glasgow heard White had taken over the reins of the notorious mob after James and Barry Gillespie vanished in Brazil in 2019.
Prosecutor John Keenan KC said the gang operated throughout the UK, Europe and other countries including Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.
Laycock, 51, had a direct link to cartel boss White, 47, and played a key role in helping set up a fake solar panel firm as a front for drug trafficking.
Bonner, 37, was a close associate of White’s right-hand man Fleming, 40, and helped organise vast amounts of dirty cash to be ferried to various locations.
Lower-level hoodlum Kelly, 42, would transport the ill-gotten gains in his work’s van.
The trio were swept up as part of Police Scotland’s long-running Operation Escalade – a crackdown on the country’s most prolific organised crime gang.
The probe has already seen a string of convictions for offences including murder, international drug smuggling and money laundering.
Laycock, Bonner and Kelly were snared as part of an off-shoot drug trafficking sting dubbed Operation Buggy.
This was an investigation into drug trafficking into Scotland from Spain between March 29, 2020, and January 8, 2022.
The gang used premises at Hillington Industrial Estate in Glasgow as a hub to run their racket linking Scotland from Spain between March 29, 2020, and January 8, 2022.
A shell company called Adastra Access Off Grid was also set up as a front for the dealing.
Laycock – who lived between Spain and Manchester – had given valuable “advice” on this in an attempt to make it appear legitimate.
In early January 2022, watching police clocked five pallets containing fake solar panel generators being loaded onto van at the industrial site.
They were then ferried to a business park in Essex which Laycock had links to. It was there detectives swooped.
The generators had engineered “voids” lined with lead and foil designed to conceal and transport huge amounts of narcotics.
Mr Keenan: “They had the capacity of holding up to 400kg of controlled drugs.”
The solar panels had been destined to another fake business this time based in Alicante – just an 18 minute drive from Laycock’s home in the area.
The law authorities hacking the EncroChat phone network favoured by criminals helped catch the gang members.
The court heard Laycock was close to White and regularly communicated on EncroChat with both him and Fleming.
This included discussing anti-surveillance techniques to try and defeat detectives.
Mr Keenan described some of the high level of dirty money and drugs the gang were dealing in.
At one stage, Laycock said he had checked a vehicle cash had been hidden in and it had “more than he thought”.
White told him there was £1.3m in it. The gang boss had also earlier stated he needed £800,000 in Scottish bank notes “moved”.
Laycock further gave White a breakdown of their 100kg cannabis “stock” that they had in May 2020.
Laycock’s home and campervan was searched by police in November 2021.
Officers seized a number of surveillance trackers used by the mob to put on their vehicles to let them know if they had been stopped by the authorities.
The hearing was told Bonner, of Glasgow’s Balornock, was a close associate of Fleming.
Mr Keenan: “He collected money from the group’s drug sales. He passed it on for counting and packaging before Kelly transported it to locations instructed by White and Fleming.”
This included ferrying £850,000 to London.
In April 2020, Bonner checked with an associate about £335,000 being “ready to go”.
Bonner gave advice about when it should be collected, concerned about the then covid travel restrictions.
He also sourced cocaine and heroin from other underworld associates.
Kelly, of city’s Barmulloch, was a friend of Bonner who also communicated with Fleming at times.
Mr Keenan: “He would use his guise of his legitimate work’s van to transport the money for the group throughout the UK.
“There was discussion on EncroChat about collecting controlled drugs from others.”
The court heard of a proposed £240,000 cash pick up in May 2020 and Kelly being asked to check out his window for “any dodgy motors”.
Kelly also asked Fleming at one stage about the setting up of the bogus firm.
Fleming told him it was “defo a goer”.
Kelly’s DNA was found to be on the handles of the fake solar panels after he helped load them onto the van at Hillington.
The court heard the trio had varying levels of involvement at different times in the gang.
White and Fleming had “much more extensive” roles than the three.
White was jailed for nine years and 10 months and Fleming nine years after they each admitted in 2023 to directing others in organised crime.
Laycock, Bonner and Kelly were remanded in custody and sentencing was deferred for reports.
Earlier this month another crimelord Stevenson blamed White and three others for running his £100million cocaine racket before he pleaded guilty.
Stevenson will be sentenced next month.
