A well-orchestrated drug smuggling operation, masterminded by Julian Chisholm and backed by Colombia’s Cali Cartel, aimed to land half a tonne of high-purity cocaine on a remote Highland beach. But a brutal storm, a reckless sea transfer, and a sharp-eyed police sergeant brought the plan crashing down.
The Diver Who Became a Drug Lord
Julian Chisholm wasn’t just any criminal. Raised in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, he worked as a deep-sea diver in the North Sea oil industry before abandoning his career for something far more lucrative: drug smuggling. By the late 1980s, he had embedded himself in Spain’s underworld, starting with cannabis before setting his sights on cocaine—a drug that turned criminal fortunes overnight.
His ambitions led him to the Cali Cartel, one of the most feared crime syndicates in the world. The proposal was daring: rather than using traditional routes through Europe, Chisholm would bypass them all and land the cocaine directly in Scotland. The remote and sparsely populated Highlands seemed like the perfect entry point.
Choosing the Perfect Drop Point
Scotland had long been a destination for drugs, but shipments typically moved through the continent, coming in from the Netherlands before making their way north. This meant that by the time they reached Scotland, the drugs had been heavily cut with other substances. Chisholm’s plan would deliver uncut cocaine straight from the source.
His chosen beach was Clashnessie, a secluded spot near Drumbeg in the northwestern Highlands. Working with fellow diver Chris Howarth and fisherman Noel Hawkins, he scouted the location, ensuring it was both accessible and inconspicuous. It wasn’t his first attempt; he had already tested the waters by smuggling cannabis onto Gruinard Island—infamously known as “Anthrax Island” due to wartime germ warfare experiments. That operation had gone undetected, giving the cartel confidence in his capabilities.
The Night Everything Went Wrong
In December 1990, the operation was set into motion. A rusty freighter left South America carrying the cargo, picking up the cocaine bales that had been dropped from a plane into the ocean near Trinidad. Howarth and Hawkins were on board, ready to guide the shipment to shore.
But the Highlands greeted them with a fierce storm. The freighter’s Spanish captain, experienced in drug runs, gave a brutal order—get into a rubber dinghy with the cocaine and reach the shore. It was a near-suicidal move in a force 10 storm.
What followed was a disaster:
- The dinghy was torn apart on razor-sharp reefs, sending packets of cocaine floating into the sea.
- Some of the lost drugs were later recovered by fishermen, with one package alone valued at £1 million.
- Howarth and Hawkins barely made it to the beach, hiding the remaining cocaine under rocks before trudging miles in drenched clothes to reach a phone box and contact Chisholm.
A Bright Orange Van Raises Suspicion
With the drugs stashed, the next phase began. Two more gang members, David Forrest and Ian Rae, drove north in a hired orange van to collect the shipment. Their cover story? They were a special delivery crew transporting radioactive material from the Dounreay nuclear site. They even carried fake paperwork to back up the lie.
But something was off. The Highlands weren’t exactly teeming with traffic, and a bright orange van parked outside a remote toilet block in Corrieshalloch stood out. Sergeant Mike Maclennan, patrolling the area, took note of the unusual vehicle. A quick number plate check revealed it had been rented by Rae, and with that, the authorities sprang into action.
A Record-Breaking Seizure
The chase was short-lived. The van was intercepted on the A9 near Aviemore, and the game was up. Expecting another cannabis haul, officers were stunned when they opened the doors to find half a tonne of cocaine, worth a staggering £100 million—the biggest drug bust in UK history at the time.
Customs investigator Graham Dick later recalled, “We were always thinking this was going to be a cannabis importation, and when the van was opened, we had these black bags… The total was half a tonne of cocaine.”
Chisholm’s gang was swiftly arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. But the mastermind himself had one last trick up his sleeve. Arrested in Spain, he managed to escape from prison—and to this day, his whereabouts remain unknown.
