Ronald Russell, 47, of Linwood, Renfrewshire, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison at the High Court in Glasgow after admitting his role in the scheme.
Russell tried to flush a ledger containing evidence of his criminal behaviour down a toilet when police arrived to search his home on 20 March 2024.
But pieces of paper retrieved from the U-bend documented the movement of large sums of cash over the previous 12 months. He was convicted after pleading guilty to being concerned in serious organised crime.
Sineidin Corrins, Deputy Procurator Fiscal at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said:
“Money laundering is far from a victimless crime. It is a key part of large-scale criminal networks, helping to hide illegal profits and enabling other serious offences to take place.
“I hope this conviction sends a warning to anyone who thinks they can commit crimes like this.
"It also shows that police and prosecutors have the tools and determination to uncover the truth and bring those responsible for serious and organised crime to justice
“As a member of Scotland’s Serious and Organised Crime Taskforce, the Crown will continue working with partner agencies to ensure these crimes are detected and those responsible are prosecuted using all measures at our disposal.”
Russell’s downfall began when his finger and palm print were found on banknotes seized during a random UK Border Force search of a lorry at Felixstowe port in March 2023.
A total of £228,890 was found hidden inside a mattress within the lorry’s cab.
When officers from Police Scotland’s Organised Crime Partnership and the National Crime Agency later arrived to search Russell’s house, he was seen running upstairs.
After gaining access, they found him kneeling at the toilet trying to dispose of pieces of paper from a notepad.
A total of 26 pieces of paper were recovered, dried out and examined along with the notepad, which were later used as key evidence.
Prosecutors revealed the ledger contained references to various figures and money marked in pound signs in a column headed “in”, a running “totals” or balance column and column headed “out”.
The total marked as ‘moving’ in was £11,890,649 while the figure for the ‘out’ column stood at £11,186,649.
Nicknames of people and place names were marked against each monetary figure amid cash transactions ranging from £100,000 to £465,000.
The ledger included an entry in the “out” column of “229K” on March 29, 2023 – almost the same figure as officers recovered on the same date from the lorry at Felixstowe.
Using the alias Shug, the ledger also revealed Russell paid himself a wage of £42,000 between March 2023 and March 2024.
An iPhone recovered from Russell’s kitchen was found to contain contact numbers for associates listed in the ledger.
Images on the device taken in the accused’s bedroom included photographs of large quantities of cash labelled, banded and packaged on a bed amounting to £164,000, and £196,000.
Russell will now be subject to confiscation proceedings under Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover monies illegally obtained.