A Scottish man who is allegedly a high-ranking member of an international crime gang is set to be deported to Spain after being arrested in Bali.
Steven Lyons, 45, was taken into custody by immigration officers at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Saturday on arrival from Singapore. Untung Widiyatmoko, head of Interpol Indonesia, later confirmed his arrest.
He is wanted in the UK and Spain for alleged organised crime, drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as a murder that took place in Spain in 2024.
Lyons, who has been on Spain’s wanted list for about two years following a murder case there in 2024, will be extradited to Spain on Wednesday, Indonesian authorities have said.
A picture taken on Tuesday shows him in an orange prisoner’s suit as he’s escorted by two police officers in Bali’s capital of Denpasar.
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Bali police chief Daniel Adityajaya said the arrest was part of a joint investigation involving Spanish and Scottish police.
He said the 45-year-old was alleged to be the leader of “a large-scale transnational criminal organisation involved in narcotics trafficking and money laundering”.
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According to Widiyatmoko, Lyons is alleged to have led a crime ring that used shell companies for money laundering in Europe and the Middle East – including in Spain, Scotland, England, Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey.
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He said police in Scotland and Spain last week carried out raids in connection with Lyons’ case, resulting in multiple arrests with the help of Europol – a European Union law enforcement cooperation hub – and also Turkey, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates.
Scottish media have reported that Lyons survived a 2006 shooting in Glasgow that killed his cousin and later moved to Spain before settling in Dubai.
Last May, his brother and an associate were shot and killed in a suspected gangland shooting at a beachfront bar in Fuengirola, southern Spain.
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Lyons arrived in Bali with two companions who are believed to still be on the island, said Bugie Kurniawan of Bali’s immigration office.
He said Spain’s Interpol has identified them as members of the same criminal cartel but they are not on any arrest warrants.
