Ronald Russell, 47, of Linwood, near Glasgow, was sentenced to four years and six months in jail at the High Court in Glasgow on 16 December after pleading guilty to ‘being concerned in serious organised crime’.

Russell’s house was raided by police in March 2024 where he was found flushing evidence containing information on laundered amounts down the toilet.

During the house raid by Police Scotland’s Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) and the National Crime Agency (NCA), Russell was seen running up the stairs before being found kneeling at the toilet, trying to flush pieces of paper from a notepad. 

The police recovered 26 pieces of paper which they dried out, examined, and used as key evidence against him. Paper retrieved from the u-bend showed the transfer of large amounts of cash over the previous 12 months. 

In court prosecutors revealed the flushed evidence contained references to various figures marked in columns titled ‘totals’, ‘in’, and ‘out’. The amount marked as moving in was £11.8m, while the figure for the out column stood at £11.1m. 

The ledger included details of a £229,000 payment on 29 March 2023, almost the same figure as officers recovered on the same day in a lorry seized during a border force search at Felixstowe port in March 2023. Russell was linked to the plot after his fingerprint was found on banknotes (pictured) hidden in the lorry.

Nicknames of people and place names were marked against each figure amid cash transactions ranging from £100,000 to £465,000. Using the alias ‘Shug’, Russell paid himself a salary of £42,000 between March 2023 and 2024. 

An iPhone recovered at the raid contained contact numbers for associates named on the ledger. Images on the phone taken in Russell’s bedroom included photographs of large quantities of cash labelled, banded, and packaged on a bed amounting to £164,000, and £196,000. 

The Crown Office and Scottish Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said Russell will be subject to confiscation proceedings under Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover the money. 

Sineidin Corrins, deputy procurator fiscal at COPFS, said: ‘Money laundering is far from a victimless crime. It is a key part of large-scale criminal networks, helping to hide illegal profits and enabling other serious offences to take place. 

‘I hope this conviction sends a warning to anyone who thinks they can commit crimes like this. It also shows that police and prosecutors have the tools and determination to uncover the truth and bring those responsible for serious and organised crime to justice.’

Pictured: Banknotes hidden in lorry, picture from the Crown Office