Fruit trader told colleague he was ‘going to jail for a long time’, court hears

Six men are on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of being part of a plot to bring cocaine from Ecuador to the UK.

The trial is taking place at the High Court in Glasgow (Jane Barlow/PA) (PA Archive)

A fruit trader accused of being part of an international cocaine trafficking ring became tearful as he told a colleague was “going to jail for a long time”, a court has heard.

David Bilsland, 67, who is on trial with five other men, was alleged to have made the comments to Andrew Wilson, 59, in June 2020.

Bilsland denies charges relating to the importation of cocaine to the UK from Ecuador in consignments of bananas, and is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

James Stevenson, 59, faces 14 charges while Garry McIntyre, 43, Gerard Carbin, 44, Paul Bowes, 53, and Ryan McPhee, 34, face fewer charges, including being involved in the production and supply of class C drugs and being concerned in the importation of cocaine.

All the accused deny the allegations and Stevenson has lodged a special defence of incrimination.

Giving evidence, Mr Wilson, a refrigeration engineer, told the court that he knew Bilsland for around 40 years as a trader at Glasgow Fruit Market.

He said he had done something stupid and had put his hands up to it

Andrew Wilson

He said he went to the premises in June 2020 and saw a police raid, and returned in the days after to speak to Bilsland, who had paid him £3,000 in cash to fit a banana ripening machine.

Mr Wilson told the court: “He said to me ‘have you seen the news?’. He was looking terrible, he looked as if he had seen a ghost and was a broken man.

“He said he had done something stupid and had put his hands up to it, and was going to jail for a long time.

“He looked as if he was about to start crying. He said he hadn’t been named in the news but his age was mentioned.”

Text messages between the men exchanged in May 2020 referred to an address at Port Dundas Trading Estate.

Cross-examining for the defence, Gary Allan KC asked: “Am I right in stating that Glasgow Fruit Market is an old institution in Glasgow where a large number of fruit merchants have premises?”

Mr Wilson agreed and said he had worked there since he was 17, adding that Bilsland was an “old timer”.

He said he was unaware Bilsland had companies named Glasgow Fruit Market Ltd and Glasgow Fruit Market Scotland Ltd, and denied using the phrase “broken man” in a police statement read to the court, which he said may not have been accurate as it was given four months later.

Mr Allan said: “Am I right in stating he got so upset he couldn’t finish the conversation and drove away?”

Mr Wilson said: “Basically.”

The court heard that National Crime Agency (NCA) officers looked for “threat, harm, risk and opportunity”, using a triage system to sort 18 million messages passed on by French law enforcement, using a keyword search to pinpoint possible criminality.

Police Scotland forensic specialist Paul Graham said messages could be misunderstood.

NCA investigating officer Michael Miller gave evidence regarding his part in examining the drug at a Home Office location in the south of England between September 28 and 30 2021.

Mr Miller said he had worked in law enforcement for around 32 years, and worked closely with Police Scotland in Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire.

He said cocaine could have a maximum purity of 89%, and would usually be around 11% if it was “street cocaine”, referring to a higher purity level as “glitzy”.

The former detective was assigned to the case to see if boxes seized at the Port of Dover in September 2020 contained the same packaging.

Over three days in September 2021, he and several police officers examined the class A drug, which was packaged in brown cardboard boxes illustrated with a Calypso logo and addressed to Glasgow Fruit Market.

A bag of cocaine was shown to the jury, along with images of the hoard.

Giving evidence, Mr Miller said: “There had been a seizure of cocaine in 119 packages but we had only seen one. We wanted to open every single package to see if there was any size difference, if there was any difference in packaging.”

The trial, in front of Judge Lord Ericht, continues.