The man who first brought drugs baron Jamie 'Iceman' Stevenson to justice says police were wrong to claim Scotland's gangland war was over and that the criminals had agreed a ceasefire.
The last five days has seen a resurgence in the violence linked to the long running feud between the Lyons and Daniel crime clans with a string of incidents in the Glasgow area.
Two members of the Daniel family were targeted in a machete attack at their homes, a car was rammed into a house causing structural damage and a car set on fire outside a showroom.
Chief Constable 'spoke too soon'
In June, Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell reported to the Scottish Police Authority that there had been a downturn in the gangland violence which she attributed to a "resolution of differences within the Serious And Organised Crime community."
However Graeme Pearson, former director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), says the Chief Constable spoke too soon and was wrong to suggest that the violence - investigated under Operation Portaledge - was over.
Pearson added: "It wasn't sensible to indicate that resolution had been achieved between criminal groups. That wasn't going to be the case."
"Criminal groups are never going to agree to share out the pie. Their natural inclination is to want more of the pie and to be top of the pile."
"I was surprised that she had been advised to speak in those terms"
"The police are there to deal with crime and criminality and the public rely on them to give an accurate account. An accurate account needs to deal with criminality in its reality."
"In the last couple of years downright gangsterism has occurred across Scotland with the public wondering, what is all this firebombing, street attacks and threats and how does this go on across our communities?"
Violence 'not over'
Pearson has also been hearing in recent weeks that the violence was not over and that there was more to come.
He added: "People I know were saying it is not in the character of those engaged in the current disruption to merely call it quits."
"The media generally accepted those statements that the war was over and they had all settled down and moved on."
"It is proved from the evidence that has occurred since, that this has not happened."
Last month Pearson warned that the two feuding factions were still "doing business" and he wouldn't "hold his breath" over the end of the war.
He also urged police not to be complacent and believed the criminals were already planning their next move.
Demand for drugs key
Pearson believes the key to ending the gangland violence is to reduce the demand for drugs not cut out the supply and to make a criminal career less attractive to young people.
He continued: "It's about time we went back to the drawing board and questioned what we are doing, what we have done and what we need to do going forward."
"Until we do this, cases where millions of pounds worth of drugs are being brought into Scotland will continue because the demand is there."
"We need to deal with the demand element and not solely the supply element."
"It's all about education and making it relevant to young people and creating employment that gives them a meaningful way of spending their day rather than hanging about scoring drugs day in and out."
"You are not making mega millions from cocaine and heroin if there are fewer people taking it."
Iceman case and feud history
One of Graeme Pearson's biggest successes at the SCDEA was when Jamie "Iceman" Stevenson was jailed for over 12 years in 2007 for money laundering and receiving criminal property.
At the time he was one of the top men in the Glasgow crime scene. The SCDEA used surveillance and telephone interception on a scale not seen before.
In October 2024, Stevenson admitted a plot to smuggle £100million of cocaine from South America and was jailed for 16 years.
The Lyons and Daniel crime families have been at war for more than 25 years.
There was a resurgence in their feud March last year when members and associates of the Daniel family were targeted in a series of machete attacks and firebombings in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The violence is said to have been carried out by a shadowy group called Tamo Junto orchestrated by the former leader of the Rangers fans group Union Bears, Ross McGill, who is also a Lyons associate.
Operation Portaledge has resulted in 64 arrests since March last year.
