Steven Lyons loses battle to halt extradition to Spain

By CLAIRE ELLIOT, SCOTTISH GENERAL NEWS REPORTER Published: 21:03, 18 June 2026 | Updated: 21:15, 18 June 2026 A Scottish gang leader has failed in his bid to avoid extradition to Spain to face organised crime and money laundering charges. Steven Lyons was arrested in Bali, Indonesia, earlier this year and was being held in a jail in the Netherlands But the District Court of Amsterdam ruled that he should be sent to Spain after a court in Malaga issued a European Arrest Warrant for him in March. Lyons' lawyers argued that if he was extradited, he would not get a fair hearing. But the Dutch court, which lists the charges against him as 'participation in a criminal organisation' and 'laundering of the proceeds of crime', said there was 'no general risk of a violation of the right to a fair trial' and it would allow 'the requested surrender to Spain'. The court said it 'does not have any information to suggest that there is a general risk that suspects in criminal proceedings will not receive a fair trial in Spain' and added that it was for the Spanish courts to decide if that right had been 'infringed'. It was described as a 'significant moment' for Spanish authorities after a three-year investigation. The 45-year-old Scot was arrested at the end of March after arriving in Bali from Singapore. Indonesian authorities paraded him in an orange prison suit as he was led from the island's police HQ with his hands bound by cable ties. His wife, Amanda, was held by police in Dubai on the same day over offences allegedly committed in Spain. Police in Bali said Lyons – who was subject to an Interpol alert – was alleged to be the leader of 'a large-scale transnational criminal organisation engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering'. Interpol alleged Lyons was part of a criminal group operating in countries including Spain, Scotland, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey. The arrest of the Glasgow crime figure came a day after a Scottish-Spanish operation saw police round up 13 alleged members of the criminal group in raids in Scotland, Barcelona and Malaga. Police Scotland previously said it was aware of the arrest in Bali and was working closely with its European partners. Lyons is expected to be extradited to Spain within days. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.