Renting orange van was glaring mistake by gang

When the lion’s share of Julian Chisholm’s gang were in cuffs, the talk of the north-east was that it was all due to a bright orange van.

The headlines at the time reflected that £100 million of cocaine had been intercepted because of a 10p phone call from eagleeyed police officer Sergeant Mike Mclennan.

The bobby had left his house in Ullapool on the morning of January 7 1991, and headed for a training course in Inverness when he spotted something odd.

It was an orange van with the name of a rental firm written on the side.

It struck Sgt Mclennan as strange that the company was based 185 miles away in Forfar, as it was the middle of winter, and not ideal weather conditions for such a long drive.

Former customs boss Graham Dick told us: “We had worked with Mike since the beginning of our operation to bring down Chisholm’s gang.

“When we knew the gang was in the north of Scotland somewhere we spoke to Mike and said ‘keep your eye out’ and it was purely by chance he was going down to Inverness early in the morning and he saw this van in Corrieshalloch Gorge.”

Sgt Mclennan used a 10p piece to make a phone call with the tip-off, which was passed on to Dick’s men – and they had to act fast.

They contacted police colleagues in Angus and asked them to travel to the rental firm, Baxters Self Drive in Forfar.

There, police found out who had rented the van. It was David Forrest – Chisholm’s right-hand man.

Dick’s squad knew there was a high chance Forrest would be heading their way in the van, which they eventually intercepted.

Eugene Costello, who wrote a book about the case, said: “So here we have David Forrest, setting out on a journey to pick up 500kg of cocaine.

“And, of all the vehicles he could have chosen to go and make the collection in he picks – and I have to stop myself from laughing at this point – he chose a bright orange van.

“Not only that, it had ‘Forfar’ written on it, when customs and police knew Chisholm had associates from that neck of the woods.

“It’s fair to say this was not the smartest move.”

Another gaffe that Forrest and his accomplice Ian Rae made was travelling from Clashnessie Bay south on the most popular road.

According to records, a third man Chris Howarth had specifically warned them about taking that route as the police presence in the Ullapool area was high.

But the pair ignored Howarth’s local knowledge – and paid the price by serving a total of 17 years in jail.

The bright orange van was spotted by a police sergeant.