Drugs trafficker ordered to repay more than £1m

Steven Black, 51, of Airdrie, was sentenced to nine years in prison in December 2023. He admitted at the High Court in Glasgow to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis.

Black also pled guilty to being in possession of £929,970 of criminal property. All charges were aggravated by a connection to serious organised crime.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, the court made a confiscation order in the sum of £1,184,431 which represents the entire benefit from his recorded criminal conduct.

This sum comprises £929,970 in cash and includes funds held in bank accounts and equity in heritable properties.

Black was jailed along with two other men following a police raid at various addresses between Airdrie and Shotts in Lanarkshire. More than £1m in cash was seized along with eight kilos of cannabis worth around £30,000 and 350 grams of cocaine worth around £7,500.

Black was found with so much money that it took police officers three days to count it. Messages on a mobile phone from Black to criminal associates demonstrated his involvement in serious organised crime.

The conversations detailed the sale and supply of drugs valued at tens of thousands of pounds. A raid on his sister’s house also unearthed a significant amount of money.

Black has been given six months to pay the confiscation order.