A Perthshire businessman jailed following the revelation that he was a player in an organised crime gang is facing the complete collapse of his playboy lifestyle.
Scone stonemason Graeme Malcolm had a luxury home in Spain, a stake in a racehorse and jetted all over Europe following Rangers FC.
He fell from grace last week, however, after being jailed for 10 years, having financed his luxury lifestyle by smuggling class-A drugs into Tayside.
Now the Crown is seeking a confiscation order to strip the 44-year-old of his illicitly obtained money and property.
Police swooped on Malcolm and his accomplices Perth man Roderick Moncrieff, 43, and Liverpudlian Michael Noon, 50, as they drove north with a stash of cocaine.
They had been identified and tracked as part of a major investigation into the drug trafficking activities of a major Scots crime organisation.
Appearing at the High Court in Livingston, Malcolm was found guilty of travelling from Scone to Liverpool to supervise a large cocaine deal.
Lord Turnbull disregarded the businessman’s claim that he had simply travelled to Merseyside to visit an Ikea store.
He was convicted of being concerned in the supply of cocaine, with locations listed on the charge including Perth, Liverpool and the M74.
The court heard that Police Scotland considered Malcolm a “big player” in the Scots drug trade and Lord Turnbull said it was clear he had been involved with dealing at the “highest end of the relevant spectrum”.
The drugs seized during the operation were said to have had a purchase price of £200,000 but could have sold for a far higher sum, given their high purity.
Moncrieff admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and was jailed for four years and two months for his role as courier.
Noon, meanwhile, was sentenced to five years and seven months after the court heard he had provided a “storage and supply facility”.
The Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency had long suspected Malcolm’s criminal dealings, as his lifestyle was at odds with his supposed earnings as a stonemason.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Donaldson at Police Scotland Specialist Crime Division said: “These convictions stem from an intelligence-led investigation, which was conducted by the former Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency into the large-scale drug trafficking activities of a serious organised crime group operating in Scotland.
“This is proof that, through effective intelligence gathering, we can successfully detect and arrest those involved and disrupt their activities.”
A spokesman for the Crown Office said confiscation proceedings had been raised against Malcolm and Noon.