Four men handed serious crime prevention orders after £10m worth of cocaine found inside Transit van

Four men have been given court orders designed to prevent their involvement in serious organised crime after £10m worth of cocaine was found inside a Transit van.

Ellis Hardy, Wayne Smith, James Davidson and David Mullarkey were previously sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to involvement in serious organised crime.

On Tuesday, they were all handed Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPO) for five years.

The orders will come into effect once they are released from prison and are designed to prevent the men from returning to crime.

The cocaine was found in the vehicle as it was parked in the premises of DM Kitchens in Hillington, Glasgow, owned by 47-year-old Mullarkey.

Officers had followed Hardy, 42, and Smith, 39, to the site as part of an investigation. They had driven up to Scotland in a white Ford Transit van, arriving in Glasgow on June 22, 2019.

On the same day, Davidson, 58, drove an HGV full of waffles from England to the same meeting point.

Officers watched as the men worked for around an hour, moving items from the HGV trailer to the Transit van. They could hear drilling, sawing and banging noises from the vehicles.

When the work finished, police moved in and searched the vehicles.

They found 30kg of high purity cocaine hidden inside the Transit van. If adulterated to a lower purity level, the drugs could be worth up to £9.96m.

The HGV was also searched and was found to have been modified to conceal packages. The packages of cocaine found in the Transit van were the right size and shape to fit in the HGV hide.

Laura Buchan, procurator fiscal for specialist casework, said: “An SCPO allows for intensive monitoring of an individual and is designed to prevent someone from committing further offences.

“The restrictions placed on these four men will ensure monitoring on release from prison and restrict any future involvement in serious and organised crime.

“SCPOs are just one of the range of tools available to prosecutors and we will continue to use all at our disposal to keep Scotland’s communities safe.”

Proceeds of Crime proceedings have commenced against Davidson and Mullarkey.