Over a period of three-and-a-half years, a team of specialist prosecutors painstakingly assembled a case which ensured James Stevenson and five other individuals were brought to justice.

The evidence produced in court exposed the truth behind Stevenson’s worldwide drug-trafficking operation to release a huge quantity of Class A drugs into Scottish communities.

At the core of the case lay a tranche of encrypted messages on the EncroChat platform which enables criminals using special handset devices to adopt and hide behind code names.

Prosecutors diligently scrutinised and digested thousands of messages between each of the accused.

Pivotal to a successful prosecution was attribution – which meant sifting through the messages to crossmatch the true identities of each accused with their secret EncroChat handles.

Crucially, these messages proved beyond doubt that Stevenson, as the ringleader, was giving orders and directing other individuals in this drug-trafficking operation.

Other evidence ingathered by the Crown, the National Crime Agency and Police Scotland linked Stevenson to a factory in Kent that produced millions of street valium tablets worth millions of pounds.

There was also an international dimension which required the Crown to work with foreign jurisdictions in Europe to demonstrate a trail of global drugs-trafficking that eventually led to a fruit merchant in Glasgow.

That diligence ensured the casework undertaken by the Crown Office was rewarded, with justice served on major international drug traffickers who now begin prison sentences totalling [insert here] years.

Deputy crown agent Kenny Donnelly said: “James Stevenson and his criminal associates were involved in drug trafficking on an industrial and global scale.

“But they have been brought to justice thanks to an extensive operation involving Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency, working with COPFS, to investigate and dismantle their network of drug supply.”

He added: “Our message is clear: we will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of drug traffickers.

“They will be caught, they will be prosecuted, and they will be brought to account for their crimes through the courts. The sentences imposed reflect the gravity of the offences committed by Stevenson and his co-accused.

“It was clear from the EncroChat messages that, as the ringleader, he directed the group. The cocaine they were planning to distribute would have undoubtedly contributed to misery in our communities.”