HUNDREDS of people have called a Crimestoppers hotline after police launched a direct appeal to the Spanish public to help them track down two fugitives.

Strathclyde Police are delighted at the response following its appeal at a press conference in Madrid for Derek McGraw Ferguson and William Paterson, who are suspected of involvement in two gangland-style murders.

The team, currently based in Spain, are following up reports of possible sightings and tip-offs about who the men have been meeting and associating with.

Paterson is wanted over the shooting of Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll, who was ambushed by masked gunmen in a supermarket car park in Robroyston, Glasgow, in January 2010.

Ferguson allegedly shot dead barman Thomas Cameron, 49, as he left work at the Auchinairn Tavern in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, in June 2007.