Snared after DNA found on cash stash
A member of a major crime gang formerly of Blantyre was caught after he left DNA traces on elastic bands used to bundle up dirty money found hidden in a lorry.
Joseph Lindsay, 34, was brought back to Scotland to face justice after he was traced in Tenerife by Spanish police.
Lindsay, formerly of Pitlochry Place, Blantyre, admitted breaching proceeds of crime legislation by agreeing with others to conceal and disguise criminal property between August 25 and December 23 in 2015 and on January 30 in 2017, when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh last Friday.
The court heard that in January 2017 police searched an industrial unit in East Kilbride, and found a lorry with a hiding place containing cash in plastic tubs.
One of the tubs, which held £95,010, was later forensically examined.
Advocate depute Lindsey Dalziel told the court: “DNA matching that of Joseph Lindsay was recovered from elastic bands which were wrapped around the money.”
A European Arrest Warrant was issued for Lindsay who was detained by the Guardia Civil in December last year before he was handed over to Scottish police.
Ms Dalziel said the case arose out of a police investigation into a Scottish organised crime group (OCG) known to use violence and guns to enforce its activities.
The prosecutor said: “The OCG is the most sophisticated group encountered by Police Scotland. Their operation centres on the importation of vast quantities of controlled drugs.”
“Their role is as wholesalers to other organised crime groups.
“They are at the top of the chain in terms of drugs transactions in Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole,” she said.
“Their mode of operation includes packaging and concealing substantial cash proceeds generated from this business for transportation.”
“In addition to controlled drugs the OCG are involved in firearms trafficking in order to violently enforce their own operation and in order to supply their client crime groups,” she told the court.
Ms Dalziel said the crime gang used industrial premises and vehicles through fake identities.
She added: “The sums of money involved in financing these vehicles and premises are substantial.”
The advocate depute told the court: “The accused Joseph Lindsay is a member of the OCG and was seen on several occasions meeting with other members.”
She said that during the search of an industrial unit at Dixon Place, in East Kilbride, police found a flatbed Iveco lorry with a hiding place for large sums of cash, along with fraudulently obtained registration documents and keys.
The prosecutor said: “Cash recovered in the Iveco lorry was packaged and labelled in a manner which was similar to the method used to package other consignments of cash controlled by the OCG.”
“The use of purpose-built concealments in vehicles and in buildings has been a feature of many criminal enterprises organised and controlled by the OCG,” she told the court.
Defence solicitor advocate Graeme Brown told the court that Lindsay had consented to his extradition from Tenerife after he was detained.
Lindsay was brought back by Scottish police officers on January 10 this year.
Mr Brown told the judge, Lord Beckett, that Lindsay has never previously served a prison sentence.
The judge remanded Lindsay in custody and called for the preparation of a background report ahead of sentencing.
Lindsay was served with papers to begin confiscation proceedings against him in a bid to seize crime profits.
The organised crime group is the most sophisticated one encountered by Police Scotland