A major crime gang member was caught after he left DNA traces on elastic bands used to bundle up 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, of Blantyre, Lanarkshire, admitted breaching proceeds of crime legislation by agreeing with others to conceal and disguise criminal property.

He became a suspect after a raid on an industrial unit in 2017.

Detectives later managed to link Lindsay to a gang who were jailed for a total of 87 years after a massive investigation into violence, drugs and firearms offences.

Global crime group

Operation Escalade uncovered a criminal enterprise that generated more than £100m a year and stretched from Baillieston to Brazil.

Lindsay appeared on the police radar after a lorry was examined at a premises in East Kilbride and found to contain a hiding place with plastic tubs stuffed with cash.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard 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 and he was detained by the Guardia Civil in at December last year.

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.”

Fake identities

Ms Dalziel said the gang’s mode of operation included packaging and concealing substantial cash proceeds for transportation.

She added: “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.”

The prosecutor said the crime gang used industrial premises and vehicles obtained through fake identities.

She told the court: “The accused Joseph Lindsay is a member of the OCG and was seen on several occasions meeting with other members.”

Ms Dalziel said an industrial unit at Dixon Place, East Kilbride was searched in January 2017.

Inside 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.”

‘Untouchable’

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 10 January this year.

Mr Brown told the judge, Lord Beckett, that Lindsay had never previously served a prison sentence.

The judge remanded Lindsay in custody and called for the preparation of a background report ahead of sentencing.

He was served with papers to begin confiscation proceedings against him in a bid to seize crime profits.

Det Insp Martin McGhee, from Police Scotland’s Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “Despite having fled the United Kingdom to evade prosecution, our partnerships with national and international law enforcement and prosecution agencies led to his quick identification, arrest and extradition from Spanish territories back to Scotland to face prosecution for his crimes.

“This demonstrates Police Scotland’s resolve to tackle serious organised crime and the blight it causes to our communities. It reinforces the message that no criminal is untouchable, even those who flee and base themselves abroad to avoid prosecution.”