A key figure in one of Scotland's most violent gangland feuds has been arrested in a dawn raid on his home. Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel, 46, was apprehended by officers from the Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit at his residence in Robroyston, on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Daniel is widely believed to be the head of the Daniel crime family, which has been embroiled in a 25-year feud with rivals, the Lyons clan. This conflict has been linked to a wider gang war across Scotland's central belt that began in March of the previous year, resulting in numerous incidents including arson and attempted murders.
The arrest is part of Operation Venetic, an ongoing investigation leveraging evidence obtained from the hacking of EncroChat, an encrypted messaging application utilized by organized crime groups. Officers briefed before the raid surrounded Daniel's house, with one officer and a police dog entering through the front door after communicating with Daniel through a first-floor window. Daniel was subsequently handcuffed and taken away in a police van.
Also arrested as part of the same operation was Steven Gordon, 39, in the nearby Garthamlock area. Both men face charges related to serious and organized crime, firearms offenses, and drug offenses.
In related developments, Steven Lyons, 45, the alleged chief of the Lyons family, is currently awaiting trial in Spain. He faces charges over his alleged involvement in serious organized crime and money laundering. Police in Bali, where Lyons was arrested under an Interpol alert, described him as the leader of a "large-scale transnational criminal organisation" involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. Interpol indicated the group operated across multiple countries, including Spain, Scotland, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Turkey. Lyons' arrest followed a Scottish-Spanish operation that resulted in the detention of 13 alleged members of the criminal group in raids across Scotland, Barcelona, and Malaga.
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Ferry stated that the enforcement action underscores the commitment to bringing those involved in serious and organized crime to justice. He added that police would continue to employ all available tools and tactics to pursue individuals profiting from criminal activities that harm communities.
The arrests come as detectives investigate a deliberate fire at a Glasgow garage that occurred the day prior, examining whether it is linked to any resurgence in gangland violence. This incident followed a car crashing into a house in Eaglesham just 24 hours earlier. Police Scotland had announced last month that the gang war had ceased, following a spate of violent incidents that began in March of the previous year and spread across the central belt. The force responded to 84 incidents of violence and disorder, leading to 64 arrests and 55 search and arrest warrants. A brief re-emergence of such incidents earlier this year also resulted in further arrests.