The main figures of the Scottish ganglands arrested in Dubai

Four of the most upscale gangland figures of Scotland were arrested in Dubai.

BBC Scotland News understands that Steven Lyons, Ross McGill, Stephen Jamieson and Steven Larwood were placed on Tuesday.

Police in Scotland think that the four are linked to crime ranging from drug importation to a quarrel between rival criminal gangs in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The dispute has resulted in a series of assaults, shots and fire bombs since March.

It is understood that detectives have shared information with the police in the United Arab Emirates, where men are all based.

It is not clear if officers in Scotland were informed of Dubai’s raids in advance.

And it remains to be seen if the authorities will bring charges or if measures will be taken to extradite men – which can be considered a risk of theft – in Scotland.

The detectives working on the Portaledge operation, which has been set up in response to the violence of the gangs, have so far proceeded to 57 arrests.

Sources told BBC Scotland News that the importance of Dubai’s arrests could not be underestimated.

One said: “All four operate at the highest level of organized crime, both in the United Kingdom and internationally.”

Steven Lyons is the leader of the Lyons criminal group, who has been involved in a bloody quarrel with the Daniel Clan rival for over 20 years.

In 2006, he survived a shooting in a garage in Lambhill, in the north of Glasgow, who won the life of his cousin, Michael Lyons.

He then moved to Spain before settling in Dubai.

In May, Steven Lyons’s brother, Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan were killed in a sea bar to Fuengirola on Costa del Sol.

The two men had spent the evening watching the Champions League final before being targeted by a lonely shooter.

Michael Riley, 44, of Liverpool, was accused by Spanish police for murders with a complete extradition hearing scheduled for later this year.

In the days following the double shot, a detective from the Spanish national police said that the suspect was a member of the Glasgow Rival Daniel Gang.

But Scotland police maintained that there is nothing to suggest that the murders in Spain are linked to the War of the Gangs in progress or that it was planned in Scotland.

McGill became known for the police for his activities while a main member of the Ultras Rangers group, Union Bears.

But since March, he has become a key figure in the gangland quarrel which has been responsible for a wave of violence in the east and west of the country.

BBC Scotland News understands that it has been triggered by a fall between McGill and the Déburg’s drug trafficker Mark Richardson, who is currently in prison.

Larwood is a known partner in Lyon and lived before in Spain before moving to Dubai.

Jamieson, who has lived in the city of Desert for several years, has links with Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson, who was imprisoned last year for having orchestrated a plot to pass cocaine worth 100 million pounds sterling in South America in banana boxes.

Police Scotland said they were unable to confirm the arrests.

It is understood that the Foreign Affairs Office, Commonwealth & Development has not been approached for consular assistance.

Dubai police referred to the BBC Scotland News at the United Kingdom Embassy in Dubai, but they have not yet commented.