Cop blitz links gang lord Jamie 'Iceman' Stevenson to France's biggest coke bust

Jun 12 2011 Exclusive by Derek Alexander, Sunday Mail

COPS battling to smash the empire of Scotland's top mobster have arrested a trucking boss linked to the biggest cocaine bust in French history.

Haulage firm chief Charles McAughey's home was one of 11 targeted last week in synchronised raids aimed at lieutenants of drug-smuggling kingpin Jamie "Iceman" Stevenson.

The Sunday Mail revealed in 2009 that French police had found nearly threequarters of a ton of cocaine in the back of a lorry owned by McAughey.

The vehicle was registered to the 51-year-old, who runs haulage company Kirimar Plant. He employed the two Glaswegian men arrested in the bust in the city of Montpellier, west of Marseilles.

Stunned French cops found 684 kilos of pure cocaine, worth an estimated £31million, hidden among cash registers and coffee in the back of the truck. We revealed at the time that the lorry had been scheduled to travel to London, then on to Glasgow.

Stevenson, 46, now serving 10 years for money-laundering, smuggled drugs into Scotland using his own lorries.

He ploughed cash into legitimate haulage firms, who he then used to flood the nation with cocaine and heroin.

McAughey's £1.5million home in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, was among those raided on Tuesday after a year-long investigation by the elite Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. The clampdown, codenamed Operation Chiron, was targeted at drugs and proceeds of crime.

Eight other men, aged between 39 and 49, were arrested in the raids.

Officers seized around £40,000 in cash, 21 laptops and 60 mobile phones. Other items, including jewellery, watches, shoes and paintings, were also confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

A scdea spokeswoman said: "Nine men arrested will be reported to the procurator fiscal for offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act and money laundering."

Kirimar Plant's yard on Uddingston's Greenelms Industrial Estate was also raided last Tuesday. McAughey appears to have re-branded the firm as Kinetic Heavy Haulage.

We spoke to McAughey at his portacabin office to ask about his arrest. He said: "I don't think it would be appropriate to comment."

McAughey is also a director of the Artists Studio in Bath Street, Glasgow, and the Bothwell Partnership - a firm who organise corporate events - with his partner Alison Donnell, 56.

It's not what you know… «

Lagardère Unlimited, the sports and and entertainment division of the Lagardère empire, has signed Charles Pic, with the aim of getting the French youngster into Formula 1. Lagardere has taken on former F1 race winner Olivier Panis to act as Pic’s coach.

The 21-year-old Pic currently races in GP2, with the Barwa Addax team, and is third in the championship, just behind Romain Grosjean and Sam Bird, and ahead of a number of highly-rated names, including Ferrari test driver Jules Bianchi.

“Charles is a young man ready to make a big impact at the top of motor sport, and we’re proud he’s chosen Lagardère Unlimited as his management team,” said Lagardère.

There is a certain sense of symmetry in all of this.

Lagardère is run by Arnaud Lagardère, the son of Jean-Luc Lagardère, who turned the Matra business into a leading motor racing operation in the 1960, before going on to build an impressive media and defense conglomerate, including magazines such as Car and Driver and Road and Track. In many ways the Elf-funded Matra was the foundation on which much of the France’s racing success in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s was built.

Pic has done well but is a young man with a number of advantages. His family owns and runs the Groupe Charles André (GCA) conglomerate, which is one of Europe’s leading transport companies, although the business is diversified into many different sectors, notably construction. The business employs 6,500 people but began as a haulage company transporting petroleum products in the Rhone valley – largely for Elf. That relationship in the 1990s when GCATrans was the major sponsor of the Winfield Elf Formula 3 team, helping a young driver called Olivier Panis towards his dream of competing in F1.

The Pic/Andre family has also diversified into the hotel trade and runs a series of very flash restaurant/spa/hotel complexes, which has made funding racing careers for Charles and his brother Arthur (who currently races in Renault World Series) rather less difficult than it is for some rising stars.

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