A VIOLENT gang of underworld enforcers is terrorising the Scottish underworld with a series of savage kidnappings.

Terrified victims - often linked to rival gangs or businesses - have been snatched from their homes at gunpoint by the group and tortured.

The Sunday Herald has learned that the gang has been linked to at least three abductions, including one attack which resulted in a kneecapping.

Police Scotland's Major Investigation Team - known as the MITs - have launched an investigation into the group's actions, which are feared to be linked to a growing feud.

In one case, a senior police source told the Sunday Herald, the Glasgow-based gang, which some detectives have dubbed the Snatch Squad, were behind the abduction of a 45-year-old man from a bungalow in Yorkshire.

The victim, who is originally from the greater Glasgow area, was kidnapped and driven almost 250 miles before being kept in a safe house for two days.

Following 48 hours of physical and mental torture, he was kneecapped and dumped in the Lanarkshire town East Kilbride.

Our source said: "The victim was had lived in Glasgow but moved down south to get away. But these guys caught up with him and brought him back."

The 45-year-old was made to put on a forensic-style boiler suit, shot in both legs, and thrown down an embankment close to a busy supermarket in the Stewartfield area.

It is thought the gang abandon their victim in plain sight of shocked shoppers for "maximum shock value"

A week after the shooting, two new targets had been lined up.

Two men, aged 39 and 31, were abducted, attacked and later dumped in Partick, Glasgow.

Senior detectives set up Operation Draken after a link was established between all three victims.

They were dumped near Byres Road in front of horrified passers-by.

Police are treating the attack on the 31-year-old as attempted murder. He was rushed to hospital, suffering from horrific injuries to his face and neck.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: "Inquiries are ongoing."

Disregard for public safety and use of firearms are major concerns for the police.

Insiders say detectives are left frustrated at fearful victims' lack of co-operation.

One police source told the Sunday Herald: "How are we meant to solve these crimes and arrest the folk responsible if we face a wall of silence at every turn?

"You have to be realistic and realise it's only a matter of time before an innocent gets caught in the crossfire.

"These kind of cases are notoriously difficult to get a result from.

"Ordinary folk don't want to get involved - and I don't blame them.

"Then we come up against the so-called 'wall of silence' from the people that are actually involved.

"The race will be slow and steady, but we'll get there and we'll get whoever is responsible."

The attacks echo the so-called 'alien abduction' kidnappings, which were linked to Glasgow gangland figure Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll.

He was suspected of being the ringleader of the group who earned the nickname because their victims were so traumatised they would tell police they couldn't remember what had happened to them.

One alleged victim told how they were threatened with a blow-torch and kidnapped.

Power tools were also believed to have been used in other attacks.

In 2010, Carroll died in a gangland execution in an Asda car park in the city's Robroyston area.

William Paterson, 35, had denied shooting the 29-year-old dead, but was found guilty and jailed for 22 years, following a two-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow earlier this year.

He claimed he was elsewhere at the time and incriminated six other people.

However, recruiting gangland enforcers to carry out kidnappings is not a recent practice.

Throughout the 20th century and the 'No Mean City' era in Glasgow, gangland bosses ruled the back streets of the city by fear and were always on the lookout for violent young men to enforce their reign.

The 1970s saw the Thompson Gang start its three-decade rule of Glasgow's underworld.

"Godfather" Arthur Thompson built his criminal empire on money-lending, but quickly became involved in protection rackets and the drug trade.

The three latest kidnappings have caused concern that the city could face a return to the brutal gangland wars of the past.

Scotland's biggest city is currently home to 900 gangsters working across 48 underworld mobs, according to police sources.

And in the past year, £13 million in illegally acquired assets were recovered from those engaged in gangland activities across Glasgow.

Rackets include drugs, prostitution, money laundering, tobacco smuggling, counterfeit goods, extortion and the use of legitimate businesses across all sectors as fronts for underworld operations.

An underworld source explained the on-going violence, saying: "There's dozens of different groups and hundreds of different guys involved, which means there's less business to go round."

"Bosses can't be blamed for simply protecting their businesses."