Suspected Scots crime boss needed in UK and Spain arrested in Bali
A Scottish man described as a senior determine in a global crime syndicate was arrested shortly after arriving on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, authorities stated on Tuesday.
Steven Lyons, 45, was taken into custody by immigration officers on the Ngurah Rai airport after he arrived from Singapore on Saturday, Untung Widiyatmoko, head of Interpol in Indonesia, stated.
He had been flagged by the immigration system as the topic of an Interpol purple discover issued at Spain’s request. A purple discover is an alert issued by Interpol on the occasion of a member nation for police worldwide to arrest a suspect for extradition.
Investigators stated this was Mr Lyons’s second journey to Bali and that he was assessing the Indonesian drug trafficking market.
Mr Lyons leads the Lyons Clan, which originated in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, and is locked in a violent feud with the rival Glasgow-based Daniel group.
Mr Lyons, needed in Spain and the UK in reference to organised crime, drug trafficking and cash laundering, can be extradited to Spain on Wednesday, Mr Widiyatmoko stated.
Mr Lyons was placed on Spain’s needed record in 2024 following a homicide case there. Bali police chief Daniel Adityajaya stated the arrest was a part of a joint investigation involving Spanish and Scottish police.
He stated Mr Lyons was alleged to be the chief of “a large-scale transnational prison organisation concerned in narcotics trafficking and cash laundering”.
Based on Scottish media, Mr Lyons survived a 2006 taking pictures in Glasgow that killed his cousin and later moved to Spain earlier than settling in Dubai.
His brother, Eddie Lyons Jr, and an affiliate, Ross Monaghan, had been killed in a suspected gangland taking pictures in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain final Could. The pair had been watching the Champions League ultimate earlier than they had been focused by a lone gunman.
On Monday, media reviews emerged that Mr Lyons’s companion Amanda Lyons had been arrested in Dubai. “We’re conscious of the arrest of a Scottish lady in Dubai and we’re working carefully with European companions,” a Police Scotland spokesperson stated.
Based on Mr Widiyatmoko, Mr Lyons’s crime ring used shell firms for cash laundering in Spain, Scotland, England, Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, and Turkey.
He stated that police in Scotland and Spain final week carried out raids in reference to Mr Lyons’s case, leading to eight arrests in Scotland and 5 in Spain.
Bugie Kurniawan, head of the Ngurah Rai Immigration Workplace, stated the arrest served as a message that Bali “won’t ever be a secure haven for worldwide fugitives”.
“This achievement demonstrates that immigration surveillance in Bali is efficient, built-in, and conscious of transnational threats,” stated Felucia Sengky Ratna, head of the Regional Workplace of the Directorate Normal of Immigration, Bali.
Mr Lyons arrived in Bali with two companions believed to nonetheless be on the island, Mr Kurniawan stated, including that Interpol had recognized them as members of the identical prison cartel however they weren’t on any arrest warrants.
