A Dutch court has ruled that alleged Scottish crime clan leader Steven Lyons can be extradited to Spain, clearing the way for him to face charges of money laundering, drug trafficking and running a global criminal empire through a network of shell companies.
Amsterdam judges granted Spain’s extradition request at a hearing on Thursday, rejecting arguments from Lyons’s defence team that his removal should be blocked on human rights grounds. His solicitor had previously told the court that his arrest amounted to “a secretive extradition — basically kidnapping of my client.”
Lyons, alleged head of the notorious Lyon crime clan based in Scotland, was initially captured in Bali on 28 March, where Indonesian authorities paraded him before cameras in an orange prison suit and handcuffs, describing him as a “mafia fugitive.” Because Spain has no extradition treaty with Indonesia, he was deported to the Netherlands under a European Arrest Warrant issued by Spanish authorities, with the Netherlands serving as an intermediary in the legal process.
His detention followed a major cross-border operation involving Spain’s Guardia Civil, Police Scotland, Europol and authorities in several other countries, according to Sky News, which also met undercover Spanish officers who had been involved in hunting him.
With the Amsterdam court’s ruling now in place, Lyons faces transfer to Spain to answer charges that he presided over an international criminal network spanning drug trafficking and money laundering on a significant scale.
