A fugitive gangster who helped to flood the streets of Scotland with cocaine and heroin has been jailed. Stephen Earle, 52, was extradited from Portugal after local police were tipped off by the National Crime Agency (NCA) earlier this year.
He was arrested by the Polícia Judiciária Fugitive Team in Faro and returned to the UK to stand trial.Appearing in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court in April, he pleaded guilty to four drugs supply charges.
Earle, from Liverpool, is the latest gang member to be jailed as part of an operation that saw at least 10 kilos of heroin and seven kilos of cocaine shipped from England to Scotland.The illicit enterprise saw the class A drugs trafficked around 205 miles from Merseyside to Motherwell in North Lanarkshire.
Earle worked closely with his drugs boss cousin, Terence Earle, 50, who headed the operation.Terence was jailed for 16-and-a-half years in April last year.
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