Scottish crime boss arrested in Bali: Who is Glasgow gang leader Steven Lyons?

Scotland’s criminal underworld has been dealt a blow following the arrest of high-profile gang leader Steven Lyons in Indonesia.

The 45-year-old is the head of the notorious Lyons crime family based in Glasgow, which detectives believe has played a significant role in the funnelling of drugs into Scotland and is linked to outbursts of violence throughout Europe.

Investigators believe Lyons was travelling to Indonesia in an effort to set up a drug supply network in the region; however, he was intercepted at Bali’s Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport by immigration officers on Saturday.

Officials say he is suspected of being the head of an international crime operation involving fictitious companies and money laundering.

Scotland

Arrest of Scottish gang boss sends ‘huge ripples’ through criminal underworld

Former director of DEA warns of power vacuum created by Steven Lyons’ arrest

Just days after the Indonesian arrest, his partner Amanda Lyons, was arrested by Dubai police in the UAE on Monday.

Both have been arrested in connection with offences in Spain. STV News understands neither Amanda or Steven Lyons will be deported to Scotland and that the operation has been led by Spanish authorities.

Shooting of Lyons amid bitter feud

The Lyons and the Daniels, fellow crime families, have been locked in a war that has gripped much of the Central Belt for more than two decades.

In 2006, Steven Lyons was shot in a targeted attack at a MOT garage in Lambhill. The crime boss survived; however, his younger cousin, Michael Lyons, died aged 21.

Steve Lyons was shot at a garage in 2006. STV News

The gang leader would leave Scotland and eventually settle in Dubai, where multiple authorities, including Europol, believe the group’s senior figures continued to run the operations on the ground as well as an international criminal enterprise.

Four years after the fatal attack, Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, a Daniels associate, was assassinated in an Asda car park in Robroyston.

Lyons member William Paterson received a 22-year sentence for his part in the shooting. However, the case against co-accused Ross Monaghan collapsed after the judge ruled there wasn’t enough evidence.

Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll was assassinated in a gangland hit. — Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll was assassinated in a gangland hit. Police Scotland

Monaghan would flee the country for Malaga in 2017, after he was shot in the shoulder by a gunman pushing a pram at the gates of St George’s Primary School in Penilee, Glasgow.

Gang war reignites and brother gunned down

In March 2025, an underworld feud reignited across Scotland, resulting in homes, cars and businesses being firebombed, multiple assaults, shootings at homes and bounties being placed on key figures.

Police Scotland launched a special task force, dubbed Operation Portaledge, to tackle the warring gangs following the rise in violence.

The Lyons and Daniels are believed to be involved in the recent flurry of activity. A group calling itself TMJ has also taken credit for some of the attacks in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The group is also understood to have issued a ‘bounty’ on the head of jailed cocaine kingpin Mark Richardson, who is also believed to be connected to the war.

Mark Richardson was jailed for his role in serious organised crime. Police Scotland

The drug lord was previously cleared of the attempted murder of Ross Monaghan in 2017.

Monaghan was gunned down alongside Stephen Lyons’s brother, Eddie Lyons Junior at Monaghan’s Irish Bar in Fuengirola, south of Malaga, by a masked assailant in May 2025.

Police Scotland previously said the killings in Fuengirola were not linked to the feud; however, Spanish police chief Pedro Agudo Novo said a Daniels clan member was involved in the assassinations.

Eddie Lyons Junior and Ross Monaghan were gunned down in Malaga STV News

Michael Riley was arrested in Liverpool under an international warrant issued by the Spanish authorities.

Arrests in Dubai and capture

Four months after his brother’s murder, Dubai Police arrested Steven Lyons, alongside Ross McGill, Stephen Jamieson and Steven Larwood. Detectives believe all four Scots are involved in the ongoing gang war.

Jamieson, 42, was extradited from Dubai in December and later appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court charged with being involved in serious organised crime and being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.

The other three were ordered to leave the UAE.

Five months after Lyons was released from custody, he was apprehended at Indonesia’s Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport by immigration officers on Saturday.

Steven Lyons was pictured in an orange jumpsuit. Getty Images

He arrived in Bali on a flight from Singapore alongside Larwood and another associate Lewis “Wang”. Upon immigration checks, Lyons was flagged as the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and taken into custody.

Officials say he is suspected of being the head of an international crime operation involving fictitious companies and money laundering.

A manhunt has been launched in Indonesia for Scots gangsters Larwood, and Wang after they avoided capture.

Major international gang-busting operation led by Scottish authorities

The arrests of Steven Lyon and his partner Amanda comes after a major international gang-busting operation resulted in the arrest of 13 people across Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Barcelona and Malaga.

Warrants were executed at addresses in Glasgow, Bellshill, Cumbernauld, Gartcosh, Caldercruix, Coatbridge and East Whitburn as part of a pre-planned day of action targeting serious and organised crime.

Nine people have appeared in Scottish courts following the raids, facing various charges, including involvement in serious organised crime, supplying drugs, money laundering and assault to injury.

The operation, which is not linked to Operation Portaledge, was coordinated with the Spanish Guardia Civil, who arrested five further people linked to the Scottish gang.

The joint-operation between the national authorities began in May 2024 at Eurojust, with the support of Europol.

Homes were raided as part of a major operation in Spain and Scotland Police Scotland

Over the previous two years, authorities combed through large datasets to coordinate the investigations that led to the arrests on Friday.

Europol deployed officers to both Spain and Scotland as part of the major operation involving police in Scotland, the Netherlands, Türkiye, Dubai, the Spanish Guardia Civil, the National Crime Agency and Europol.

Authorities in Türkiye seized two plots of land, a villa, and shares in a company. The real estate is estimated to be worth around 600,000 Euros (£519,846), and statements were taken from four Turkish citizens as witnesses.

The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation confirmed that the group is suspected of running a prolific criminal network involved in the transport of large quantities of drugs, including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.