Two men involved in a plot to bring over £1.5 million of cannabis to Scotland hidden in a load of watermelons have been jailed.
Officers from the Organised Crime Partnership Scotland, made up of officers from the National Crime Agency and Police Scotland, started an investigation after intelligence indicated a Scottish organised crime group were planning to import drugs into the UK using HGVs in 2020.
Officers identified Scott McSeveney, 37, from Shotts, who was using EncroChat to discuss the group’s plans. Operation Venetic, the NCA’s response to the takedown of EncroChat, saw officers receive access to the messages in June 2020.
McSeveney used the handle ‘frank.n.furter’ and exchanged messages with a number of individuals about importing cocaine and cannabis, quantities involved, test runs and how the drugs should be concealed, and terms of payment.
In one message, he talks about ‘getting a man to the flat [Netherlands]’ and how much illegal activity he can hide through his legitimate company before his ‘books get done’. In another, they discuss whether the drugs should be hidden in the cab or the back of the lorry.
Chats showed McSeveney had enlisted the help of an HGV driver, Steven Lawson, 48, from Motherwell, who would collect their illegal haul and deliver it back to the UK.
On 24 June 2020, officers from Border Force, working on a request from OCP Scotland, stopped a lorry at Coquelles port, which Lawson had driven from Spain.
Lawson told officers he had picked up a load of watermelons from a company in Spain.
When the lorry was scanned and searched, 159 bags of cannabis were found concealed within the load of watermelons. Each bag weighed around one kilo and had a street value of more than £1.5 million.
Lawson was arrested at the port, and McSeveney was arrested at his home later that day by OCP officers. Lawson denied all knowledge of the drugs.
McSeveney admitted the charge of being concerned in the supply of a class B drug at Glasgow High Court on 20 March 2025. At trial, Lawson was convicted of a charge of being involved in serious and organised crime.
Both were sentenced at the same court today. Lawson received a sentence of five years in prison, and McSeveney received a sentence of eight years and two months in prison.
