TWO MEMBERS of what was described as Scotland's "most sophisticated" criminal gang have been ordered to pay back £1.6 million.
Anthony Woods and Francis Mulligan were jailed in January 2018 after admitting multiple charges linked to serious organised crime.
Woods, 45, was sentenced to 11 years and one month in prison - which was reduced by 28 months in June - while Mulligan, 43, was handed a sentence of eight years and 324 days.
The Crown Office described it as "one of the most complex prosecutions of serious organised crime in Scottish legal history".
READ MORE: Scotland's hi-tec gang used sophisticated devices to try and foil police
At the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, the pair were made subject of a confiscation order, giving the Crown the power to seize money gained through organised crime by taking future money and assets they acquire.
There is £875,070.11 currently available from Woods, while Mulligan has £810,108.83.
Procurator fiscal for specialist casework Jennifer Harrower said: "This should serve as a warning to anyone involved in financial crime linked to serious organisation crime that we will not stop at prosecution.
"Even after a conviction is secured, the Crown will continue to use the proceeds of crime legislation to ensure that funds obtained through this type of crime are confiscated from those who do not deserve them.
"This order sends out a strong message about our determination to disrupt serious and organised crime as a member of Scotland's Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce.
"The £1.6 million recovered from Woods and Mulligan will be added to those already gathered from proceeds of crime and will be reinvested in Scottish communities through the CashBack for Communities programme."
READ MORE: Police snared 'most sophisticated' organised crime gang in drugs raid
They were members of a major crime gang who a court heard earlier this year brought “fear and misery” to communities across Scotland who were jailed for a total of almost 90 years.
The gang, which was behind the horrific torture of a man over an unpaid drug debt in West Lothian and a shooting in Edinburgh, was branded “brutal and merciless” as the sentences were handed down in January.
The nine-strong mob – which acquired a huge arsenal of weapons – were locked up for their dealings in drugs, firearms, serious violence and dirty money.
Anthony Woods, described as the “electronics expert” for the gang – pled guilty to having roles in “serious organised crime”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here