Crime boss deportation was like a 'kidnapping', his lawyer claims

One of the most high-profile gangland figures in Scotland has confirmed he is contesting his extradition from the Netherlands to Spain on organised crime charges.

Steven Lyons' lawyer Arne Kloosterman likened the 46-year-old's deportation from Bali earlier this year to a "kidnapping" during a hearing before three judges at Amsterdam District Court.

Lyons appeared in court flanked by his lawyer and a translator, wearing a navy blue hoodie and blue jogging bottoms with trainers. He was told he was wanted on suspicion of being the leader of a criminal organisation.

A decision on the Lyons case is expected to be published on 18 June.

The hearing is focused on the bid to extradite him to Spain and does not address the actual case against him.

Police in Spain previously said they had "dismantled" a criminal drugs gang led by members of the Lyons family.

A judge told Lyons he did not have to answer any questions and he had been detained under a European Arrest Warrant.

The hearing was briefly delayed as Lyons had requested the press should not be allowed to record his voice.

However that was rejected as it was usually allowed for a public hearing.

Police in Scotland and Spain carried out a series of simultaneous raids in March, following a years-long investigation into serious organised crime.

Co-ordinated with the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), it targeted alleged members of the Lyons - Scotland's dominant crime group - and resulted in 14 arrests across four countries.

Lyons himself was arrested in Bali by local officers, on behalf of Spain's Guardia Civil.

Electronic devices, large amounts of cash, company documents, high-end watches and cryptocurrency wallets were said to have been seized as part of the investigation.

A statement in April by the Civil Guard in Spain said the Lyons gang had developed a criminal network in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, using "a complex money laundering network based on shell companies and international financial transactions, managing millions of euros derived from drug trafficking".

It added the group operated across several countries, including Spain, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, and is "one of the most significant players in contemporary European organised crime".

It said the Lyons operation involved 18 raids, mostly on the Costa Del Sol and Barcelona.

Steven Lyons is the head of the Lyons group, which has been involved in a feud with the rival Daniel group in Scotland for more than 20 years.

In 2006, he survived a shooting at a garage in Lambhill in the north of Glasgow. His cousin, Michael Lyons, died in the incident.

Lyons later moved to Spain before settling in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where he has ties to the Dubai-based Kinahan crime group.

His brother, Eddie Lyons Jnr, and associate Ross Monaghan were shot dead in a beachfront bar in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol last year.

Michael Riley, 44, from Liverpool, has been accused by Spanish police of the murders.

He had challenged an extradition bid but the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed in October that he had given his consent to be taken to Spain to face prosecution.

In the days after the double shooting, a Spanish National Police detective said the suspect was a member of the Daniel gang.

However Police Scotland has insisted there is nothing to suggest the murders in Spain are linked to the ongoing gang war or that it was planned in Scotland.