UK’s Most Wanted 'Iceman' Jailed for £76m Cocaine Smuggling Plot

James Stevenson, 59, orchestrated the importation of nearly a tonne of cocaine hidden in banana consignments from Ecuador.

James Stevenson, known as 'The Iceman,' received a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to drug importation and organized crime charges.
Stevenson's operation, involving nearly a tonne of cocaine with a street value of £76 million, was intercepted by Border Force officers at Dover in 2020.
The smuggling plot was uncovered through the infiltration of the encrypted EncroChat network by French law enforcement.
Four other men involved in the operation, including Stevenson's stepson and a fruit market trader, also pleaded guilty and received prison sentences ranging from three to seven years.
Stevenson was previously jailed in 2007 for organized crime and was captured in the Netherlands in 2022 after fleeing the UK.