More than 300 criminals caught by Scotland's crime campus
More than 300 international "most wanted" criminals have been caught by Scotland's crime campus in its first two years of operation.
More than 300 international "most wanted'' criminals have been caught by Scotland's crime campus in its first two years of operation.
The Mr Bigs snared so far were either in Scotland and wanted abroad, or they had fled from justice in the UK.
Fugitives were returned from places as far afield as Jamaica, Spain, Portugal and Thailand, and were suspected of crimes such as firearms offences, sex abuse, stalking and murder.
The figures were revealed by Police Scotland as it marked two years since the Scottish Crime Campus (SCC) in North Lanarkshire opened its doors and started work.
Overall, the Gartcosh campus has targeted the more-than 440 organised criminals who make up 22 serious and organised crime groups in the SCC's radar.
The SCC currently houses 14 organisations involved in law enforcement under one roof, such as HM Revenue and Customs, the Crown Office, the National Crime Agency and SPA Forensic Services.
Visiting the building on Monday, Chief Constable Phil Gormley described it as "one of the most impressive law enforcement hubs in the world''.
He 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 nullify it for the benefit of our communities here.''
He added: "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.''
As well as tackling fugitives, operations at the Gartcosh facility include dismantling international commodity networks - illegal trading in everything from drugs and fake goods to firearms and false documents.
The £73 million site at Gartcosh has recently seen the addition of a new forensics laboratory housing DNA 24, which police describe as the most advanced profiling facility in Europe.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson, who also visited the site on Monday, said:
"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.''