Scotland’s law enforcement agencies spent the past year dismantling serious organised crime in Scotland-wide, prosecuting human traffickers and stripping criminals of their ill-gotten assets. The results paint a striking picture of a country pushing back hard against criminal networks embedding themselves in its communities.

The Serious Organised Crime Taskforce (SOCT) Progress Report 2025, published in March 2026, lays bare the scale of the challenge and the growing reach of the response.

The Scale of Serious Organised Crime in Scotland

As of March 2025, 94 organised crime groups were operating across Scotland, involving 1,202 known individuals. Four years ago, that figure stood at 1,827 — a 34% reduction that points to real, measurable progress.

Drug crime drives the majority of this activity. Around 70% of known groups deal in narcotics, with cocaine and cannabis the most common commodities. Worryingly, 61% of mapped operations hide behind seemingly legitimate businesses. Property, retail, transport and licensed premises are the most favoured fronts.

Landmark Prosecutions Shake Scotland’s Criminal Underworld

In October 2024, James Stevenson received a sentence of 16 years and three months. He had orchestrated a plot to smuggle cocaine worth £76 million from South America, hidden inside banana boxes bound for the Glasgow Fruit Market. Five associates received a combined 29 years.

French law enforcement cracked open the encrypted platform EncroChat. That breakthrough handed Police Scotland the intelligence needed to bring Stevenson down.

In April 2024, five members of a Greenock-based drug trafficking group received a combined 31-year sentence. They ran their operation from a fortified property in Inverclyde, dealing cocaine, heroin, cannabis and etizolam. Residents described years of fear and intimidation. EncroChat intelligence, again passed by French authorities, proved decisive.

A Fife case in December 2024 added a nine-year sentence. Detectives uncovered a wide dealer network, recovering mobile phones, financial records and quantities of cocaine and cannabis that linked the man directly to the group.

Major Operations Targeting Organised Crime Groups in Scotland

A wave of sustained intelligence-led operations ran throughout the year, targeting organised crime groups Scotland-wide.

Operation Silhouette targeted large-scale drug distribution across Scotland. Officers executed 60 search warrants, made 33 arrests and recovered around 370kg of controlled drugs, one firearm and over £1 million in cash and listed assets.

Operation Intensity has run since 2023, covering Argyll, Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Greater Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Tayside and the Lothians. To date it has delivered 100 arrests, 200kg of drugs seized, over £600,000 in cash recovered, two firearms taken off the streets and 11 children safeguarded.

Operation Jyro brought down a network exploiting Romanian women through human trafficking in Scotland. Officers arrested six people in December 2024 and charged them under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. Courts remanded all six in custody. Seven potential victims received immediate safeguarding support.

A County Lines intensification week in November 2024 added further results: 81 arrests, 54 warrants executed and seizures including £180,000 worth of heroin, £120,000 worth of crack cocaine and more than £224,200 in cash, alongside machetes, corrosive substances and synthetic opioids.

Stripping Away Criminal Profits

As Scotland’s enforcement agencies have made clear, disrupting serious organised crime means more than making arrests. Cutting off the money matters just as much.

In 2024 to 2025, authorities remitted £11,070,907 to the Scottish Consolidated Fund through criminal confiscation and civil recovery under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The Civil Recovery Unit alone recovered £5,045,102, covering cases tied to drug dealing, identity fraud and money laundering.

The Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities programme channels those recovered funds directly back into communities. Since 2008, it has committed £130 million to supporting around 1.3 million young people across all 32 local authorities in Scotland.

Protecting Young People From Serious Organised Crime in Scotland Networks

Serious organised crime in Scotland does not stop at drugs and violence. Young people face real risks of recruitment and exploitation, and the report places early intervention at the heart of the strategy.

The Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation reached more than 5,000 students across 15 schools in Aberdeenshire and Moray in 2024 to 2025. Surveys found that 91% of students now know practical strategies to stay safe around drugs and alcohol. Among staff who completed training, 100% reported stronger awareness of the issues young people face. A further 92% said they now feel more confident raising the subject directly with pupils.

YDance, part of the CashBack on Track strand, reported that 47% of young participants said they felt less inclined towards antisocial or criminal behaviour after joining the programme. The Aberlour Child Care Trust’s Alternative Routes project in Dumfries and Galloway recorded a 30% drop in self-reported likelihood of criminal behaviour.

Police Scotland’s Youth Volunteers, working with YouthLink Scotland, developed a new resource called Online High. It focuses on the growing threat of drug sales through social media. Young people help create and distribute the content themselves, turning peers into advocates rather than targets.

The Bigger Picture

Scotland tackles organised crime groups through a four-strand framework: Divert, Deter, Detect and Disrupt. The 2025 report shows each strand working in parallel, with agencies collaborating across borders and sectors.

North Lanarkshire Trading Standards installed over 150 call-blocking devices, preventing an estimated 320 scams and saving around £1.8 million in public funds. Joint operations with Police Scotland resulted in the imprisonment of four prolific fraudsters.

Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs Angela Constance MSP highlighted the importance of cross-sector partnership. New legislation, including provisions under the UK Government’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, gives enforcement agencies stronger tools going forward.

With 94 criminal groups still active and drug harm continuing to reach into communities across the country, progress is real but the work is far from finished.

Source: dbrecoveryresources