Paul Fleming, 40, was sentenced to nine years in prison at the High Court in Stirling in August 2023 after admitting directing numerous other gangland associates in serious organised crime.

He was a key figure behind an elaborate scheme to flood Scotland with cocaine from Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia. 

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, the court made a confiscation order in the sum of £125,970 and recorded that the benefit of criminal conduct was £1,841,903. 

The assets confiscated include cash seized from Fleming’s home, valuable watches and other high value goods. 

During a previous hearing, the court heard Fleming was also instrumental in setting up a fake company to smuggle drugs from Spain to Scotland inside solar panels. But his plots were thwarted following the arrest and convictions of several men linked to Fleming who were involved in the distribution of drugs and money-laundering offences.

Two intelligence-led Police Scotland operations, Operation Fertile and Operation Buggy, revealed the full extent of his offending. Prosecutors had told the court how Fleming left Scotland for Spain with his family in October 2018 after he and his wife were arrested.

This came after a police search of his car revealed £37,000 in cash while £50,000 worth of luxury watches were also found in his home. A complex multi­-agency operation, involving prosecutors, Police Scotland and Spanish authorities followed, and in June 2022 he was arrested in Alicante.

Fleming was then extradited back to Scotland from Spain in March 2023.