Rangers hooligan jailed over £1.5million plot to smuggle weed in WATERMELONS

A RANGERS thug who battered a cop during the Uefa Cup final riot is facing jail again — for plotting to smuggle £1.5million of cannabis hidden in watermelons.

Scott McSeveney, 36, arranged to traffick 155kg of the drug to Scotland in a lorry load of fruit from Spain.

A court heard he recruited debt-ridden Steven Lawson, 48, to drive the massive consignment from a pick-up spot near Valencia.

But the operation came unstuck when Lawson’s truck was raided by Border Force officers at the Eurotunnel port of Coquelles, in France.

McSeveney, of Shotts, Lanarkshire, and Lawson, from Motherwell, were both behind bars last night awaiting sentencing over the July 2020 conspiracy.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how McSeveney — caged for 3½ years following the 2008 night of shame in Manchester — was put under surveillance in April 2020 after cops got wind of his dope plot.

He was seen regularly at haulage firm MCL Transport in nearby Bellshill, run by Lawson.

McSeveney used the encrypted EncroChat phone network, with the call sign ‘frank.n.furter’, to communicate with associate in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Prosecutor Jennifer Cameron told the court: “Discussions took place between McSeveney and other EncroChat users in relation to the means and methods needed to transport [the drugs] securely in an HGV.

“There was discussion about modifications to the vehicle to allow the secretion of imported drugs without detection.”

During exchanges, McSeveney spoke of “the type of legitimate load” needed to hide drugs in an HGV.

The gang secured the help of a “friendly” Spanish-based fruit supplier and got fake paperwork in order to cross international borders.

Lawson drove his lorry to the Spanish beach resort of Benicassim, where he collected the hash in 159 packages and loaded it among boxes of watermelons.

In France, he provided Border Force with details of what appeared to be a legitimate fruit cargo.

But the officers detected an “anomaly” with the load and uncovered the stash.

The bogus delivery note stated the fruit was to bound for a company in London’s Covent Garden.

But the firm’s owner said he had never heard of MCL Transport.

Officers also found £2,320 in cash wrapped in cloths and an encrypted phone in Lawson’s truck.

And McSeveney had repeatedly tried to call him on the day he was stopped.

McSeveney admitted being concerned in cannabis supply.

Lawson went to trial and claimed he was unwittingly caught up in the crime.

He said his lorry had been loaded by others and he believed his cargo was fruit. He also claimed he was not aware the phone in his cab was encrypted.

The first offender was convicted of being involved in serious organised crime.

Lord Colbeck remanded both men, who face lengthy prison sentences when sentenced later this month.

McSeveney was one of 12 Rangers hooligans sentenced in 2010 over scenes a judge described the worst destruction Manchester had witnessed “since the Blitz”.

We told how the brute left PC John Goodwin with severe brain injuries after repeatedly stamping on his head on the night Gers lost 2-0 to Zenit St Petersburg.

Around 150,000 Bears fans travelled to the English city for the final, with the rioting caught on CCTV.

McSeveney’s fruit scheme comes after Scots hood Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson was jailed for 20 years for smuggling £100million worth of cocaine into the UK from Ecuador in bananas.