Spain first became attractive to Scottish criminals in the 1960’s with the advent of the package holiday making travel abroad cheaper and easier.
At that time there was no extradition treaty with the Spaniards providing a safe haven from the long arm of the law for crooks not only from Scotland but across the UK.
That changed in 1985 when an agreement was signed between the British and Spanish Governments prompted by the growing numbers of UK wanted criminals hiding in the sun.
By this time the Costa Del Sol area of Spain had been nicknamed the Costa Del Crime because of the amount of crooks settled there or fleeing justice.
However the new extradition treaty did not appear to halt the flow of Scottish gangsters to the sun kissed beaches of Fuengirola, Marbella, and Torremolinos in the Costa Del Sol and also Benidorm in the Costa Blanca.
In particular the Costa Del Sol’s large expat community and proximity to North African drug routes such as Morocco, has over the years provided the perfect environment for Scottish fugitives to hide and conduct illicit business along its’ 150 kilometre coastline.
In the last few days details have emerged of the latest crime connection between the two countries.
Spanish Police revealed how officers probing a shooting incident near the La Manga golf resort in November 2024 had arrested the suspected gunman attempting to board a flight from Alicante to Edinburgh. The victim was left paralysed following the attack.
A woman was also detained at the same airport in April as she tried to enter Spain. Both have been described as suspected members of a “violent criminal group originating from the UK”.
View 7 ImagesOne of the most notorious Spanish fugitives is Glasgow murder suspect Derek “Deco” Ferguson.
Ferguson is wanted for the murder of barman Tam Cameron who was shot dead in the car park of the Auchinairn Tavern in Bishopbriggs near Glasgow in 2007 and has been on the run for almost 20 years
They also want to quiz him about the murder of Billy Bates, 43, whose body was found in an oil drum in the following month near the Erskine Bridge in West Dunbartonshire.
View 7 Images(Image: Daily Record)
Over the years Ferguson is believed to be hiding under a false name in Spain and the Costa Del Sol.
In 2012 officers travelled to Madrid to make a joint appeal for information with the Spanish authorities.
It was part of a wider crackdown on British criminal suspects living abroad.
Though others were arrested as a result of the investigations, Ferguson could not be found.
In 2021, on the 14th anniversary of Tam Cameron’s murder, a £5000 reward was offered by Crimestoppers, which was increased to £10,000 the following year.
Ferguson’s name has appeared on numerous websites of high-profile “most wanted” criminals and a fresh appeal for information on his whereabouts was made only last month
Another Scottish crime figure with long term connections to Spain is Steven Lyons.
He is believed to have located there after he was shot and injured during a gangland shooting in a Glasgow MOT station in 2006 in which a relative Michael Lyons was shot dead.
The head of the Glasgow-based Lyons crime clan was arrested in Bali in March and deported to the Netherlands and is currently fighting extradition to Spain.
The Spanish authorities—who targeted his network in Operation Armorum— have accused the Lyons gang of operating a major drug and money laundering ring.
The Spaniards have claimed they “smashed” the Lyons’ operation following the arrest of multiple associates in March and April during early morning raids on properties there.
Spanish investigators have also claimed that Lyons laundered upwards of around 30million euros.
Last week he appeared for a hearing at Amsterdam District Court to decide whether he should be extradited to Spain to face organised crime charges. The judge’s decision will be published later this month.
In May 2025, Steven Lyons brother Eddie Lyons Jnr and Lyons crime gang member Ross Monaghan were shot dead at a beachfront bar in Fuengirola which Monaghan ran.
View 7 Images(Image: Daily Record)
The alleged hitman Michael Riley, from Liverpool, was arrested and extradited to Spain last year to stand trial for the double murder.
View 7 Images(Image: Daily Record)
One of the first high profile cases involving a Scots criminal hiding in Spain was that of Brian Doran.
In the 1980s’ and 1990’s the Glasgow travel agent and former teacher was alleged to a major player in the global drugs trade, particularly cocaine.
In 1982 he and three others were arrested on drug trafficking charges in Glasgow by Strathclyde Police.
View 7 Images(Image: Daily Record)
Doran, who was on bail, fled to Marbella leaving his wife and family behind him.
He was one of many suspects arrested in June, 1987, when the Spanish authorities claimed to have broken a £50m-a-year smuggling operation involving Moroccan hash.
After being given bail he moved to Amsterdam where he was arrested and extradited back to Scotland to face the charges from which he had fled six years earlier.
In October, 1989, he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment at the High Court in Glasgow for supplying cocaine in the city.
In 1997 Doran and another man were found guilty of trafficking £57million of cocaine at Bristol Crown Court and sentenced to 25 years each.
Two years later their convictions were overturned on the basis that the 1997 trial judge’s summing up was misleading. However the pair remained behind bars had pleaded guilty to other drug dealing charges for which they received nine years each.
Doran was set free in 2003. The following year was named in our sister paper the Sunday Mail as one of Scotland’s ten richest criminals with an estimated fortune of £10 million
Graeme Pearson, former Director of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, says Scotland is only now seeing the benefits of the extradition treat signed more than 40 years ago thanks to better relations with the Spanish authorities.
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Mr Pearson also says the cracking of Encrochat – an encrypted system used by criminals to message and phone each other – has provided vital information on the Spanish based Scottish criminals.
He added:”Though the extradition got sorted out in 1985 the connections that enabled it to happen took years to develop.
“In the past the Spanish National Police Force tended to operate in the big cities and left the likes of the Costa Del Sol to local police..
“Unfortunately they were not quite up to the mark in terms of their knowledge of organised crime
“It has taken many years for policing in Scotland to plug in with policing locally and nationally in Spain but we are seeing the benefits now.”
Mr Pearson added:”Another thing that has had an impact is Encrochat.
“On the back of that the links across Europe between organised crime groups began to show itself.
“It also built up trust between police forces as they began to see the benefit for the first time of sharing information.
“We have also seen for the first time investigations against Scottish criminals being initiated from Spain.
“Spain has a drug problem too and they need to be seen to be doing something about it.”
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