Eyes peeled

THIS is the Scottish expat gangster who remains on the run after escaping from an Alicante prison 32 years ago - when his plot to smuggle €100m of Colombian cocaine fell to pieces.

In 1990, Julian Chisholm (pictured right in mugshot alongside aged e-fit), a deepsea diver turned drug trafficker, somehow convinced the feared Cali cartel to trust him with at least half a tonne of

Hunt for Scottish ‘narco’ who escaped Spanish jail 32 years ago

By Laurence Dollimore

the Class A drug.

Attention has been drawn to the case thanks to the new BBC documentary Cocaine and the Klondykers - a threepart series that takes a look at one of the biggest drug busts

Hitman collared

A FEARED Peruvian mafia boss accused of ordering 16 murders in his country has been arrested in Elche.

He was detained at his girlfriend’s home after an operation lasting several months to track down his whereabouts in Spain.

The fugitive led a hitman gang called Los Afiles that carried out assassinations to order, as well as kidnappings that all ended in extortion, drug trafficking and deaths.

The Policia Nacional received information last year via Interpol that he could be hiding in Spain, after the rest of his crew was brought down in 2022.

in UK history.

Chisholm, from Perthshire, quit his job in the oil industry in the North Sea in the 1980s, before moving to southern Spain and launching his criminal career.

Wayne Walsh’s plea deal was confirmed at an Elche court last week and he will have to report to authorities in mid-March, or face arrest.

Five years of the sentence are for homicide and the other 12 months for the illegal possession of weapons.

While he successfully smuggled cannabis into Europe and Scotland, he wanted a bigger piece of the pie, and turned his attention to cocaine, aka ‘white gold’.

Chisholm successfully pitched his plan to the Cali cartel, which essentially consisted of at least half a tonne of cocaine being picked up by a freight ship off the coast of Trinidad in the Caribbean.

It then sailed to the Scottish coast, where two fellow Scots were ordered to use a dinghy to ferry the bales of cocaine to Clashnessie, a small beach on the rugged north west Highland coastline.

However, on the night of the operation in December 1990, the orders from their Spanish captain came despite them being caught in a category 10 storm.

A lot of the cocaine was lost to the rough conditions, with one fisherman later finding more than €1million worth floating in the water.

The Scottish smugglers managed to get to shore however they were later stopped by police and the plot was rumbled.

Chisholm was later arrested in Spain and was sent to the notorious Fontcalent prison in Alicante.

Chisholm was awaiting extradition to the UK when a decision was made to transfer him.

When the transfer van arrived to pick him and another prisoner up, guards said it was too large to fit through the entrance, insisting the pair would have to be walked out.

Somehow, while being escorted outside, they managed to escape from their cuffs and run into the desert. Chisholm has not been seen since and remains a wanted fugitive.

A RUSSIAN mafia that laundered millions of euros in Spain boasted of its contacts with 'well-known Spanish politicians', it has emerged.

A Policia Nacional probe that brought down the gang in January discovered they had phoned Cuban authorities about plans to build a solar energy farm on the island and told them they were close to several Spanish political leaders.

Raids

Among the gang’s clients were Serbian and Albanian cartels, the Mocro Maffia, Colombian cartels, the Armenian mafia, clans from Ukraine and even some from China. Some 14 people have been arrested and properties were raided in Madrid, Malaga, Marbella, Torremolinos, Coin, and Ayamonte as well as Lisbon, with €1 million in cash seized.

A Policia Nacional officer from Huelva was among the mafia's payroll and provided Spanish residency documents to its members, saying they needed asylum due to the Ukraine war. He also had 'political contacts', offering the mafia investments on the Huelva coast in land and hotel complexes.