More than 300 of the world's most wanted criminals have been caught by Scotland's new crime-fighting hub.
Officers and agencies based at the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh have apprehended more than 300 international ‘most wanted’ criminals since the hub opened two years ago.
Police Scotland said that the campus has brought fugitives back to Scotland from Jamaica, Spain, Portugal and Thailand for murder, sex abuse, stalking and firearms offences.
The new campus has also targeted more than 440 organised criminals and added three new countries, Nepal, Germany and Slovenia, to Scotland’s international crime map since opening in February 2014.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Phil Gormley said: “The impact which the Scottish Crime Campus has had in just two short years is truly breath-taking. It has led to a sea-change in how organisations including law enforcement share information and develop opportunities to detect and disrupt criminality.
“Through working more effectively and smarter, through sharing information and intelligence and by linking our resources, if there is a threat posed by criminality connected to any part of the world, we will go and we will seek to nulify it for the benefit of our communities here.
“Moving into Gartcosh wasn’t just about doing the same as we were all doing before in a new building; the aim was to build a new network for tackling crime and establish new ways of doing that. It has been about putting collaboration at the heart of what we do to make communities safer.
“The Scottish Crime Campus epitomises the way we can collectively work to counter the threats presented by serious organised crime, violent criminals and terrorism. I know that the way we work at Gartcosh is looked upon enviously by other parts of law enforcement in the UK and there is considerable international interest in the work of the campus.”
Police Scotland said that organisations based at the campus have tackled fugitives, dismantled international commodity networks and countered threats posed to communities by co-operating and sharing information.
The hub, which has close ties with the Serious Organised Crime Task Force, is currently assessing 22 Scottish-based serious organised crimes groups.
The £73m site is also home to DNA 24, the most advanced profiling facility in Europe.
Cabinet Secretary for Justice Michael Matheson said: “The Scottish Government built the £73 million Scottish Crime Campus to allow agencies work in a joined-up way never seen before in this country in order to reduce the harm caused to our communities by serious organised crime.
“The Campus has boosted our collective capacity to tackle serious organised crime and made Scotland a more hostile environment for those intent on causing misery to our communities.
“Through our Serious Organised Crime Strategy, Scotland’s agencies have successfully disrupted criminal groups at home and mitigated threats from overseas using worldwide networks, international agreements and the state-of-the-art technology at the Crime Campus.”
NCA Director General Lynne Owens said: "The Scottish Crime Campus has been a pioneer of joined up law enforcement. The excellent results it is delivering mean better public protection for the people of Scotland, and beyond.
“The NCA is a proud partner and the operational teams at the campus, which utilise our international network and other specialist capabilities, are committed to contributing to the fight against serious and organised crime.”
David Odd, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: "The last two years have seen important changes in the way we work with our partners to tackle serious and organised crime. Through this collaboration we have shared resources, tactics and information with great success from the outset. Undoubtedly, this has helped us by bringing extra strength to bear on the people who were profiting from criminality, and helped us in our efforts to systematically dismantle organised crime groups from all angles."
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