Scotland's runaway gangsters fled abroad using a passport scam in which they assumed the identities of drunks and drug addicts, it has been claimed in court.
Investigators told a trial how some of the country’s most wanted men were able to escape justice by getting their hands on genuine UK passports from a gang of alleged English fraudsters.
Killer Christopher Hughes, cocaine kingpins Barry and James Gillespie, and hitman Jordan Owens were among those who got hold of Latvian passports under the scheme, police said.
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It was claimed Hughes used a phoney passport to evade capture in 2018 by providing an alias to officers, after being arrested over a fight in a Portuguese kebab shop.
He was convicted last year of murdering a Dutch crime writer outside an Amsterdam sex club, reports the Record.
Gillespie, along with his brother and fellow drug kingpin James, are believed to have been executed by cartel bosses while hiding out in Brazil.
Owens was captured in Portugal while on the run, after shooting dead a rival near a Glasgow playpark.
Many of the mobsters spent years as fugitives and were the target of worldwide manhunts and huge rewards.
The passports enabled them to travel freely and book hotels without being flagged up to law enforcement, investigators claimed.
The gang who allegedly furnished them with passports are claimed to have built up links with an array of Scots underworld figures.
They are accused of recruiting drink and drug addicts in London and Kent, who weren’t likely to travel and were “complicit” in their plans.
It is alleged they used real names and addresses, then substituted a photo of the criminal “customer” in the application to HM Passport Office.
It is further claimed several people were persuaded to counter-sign the back of the photographs, confirming it as a real image of the applicant. Details about the alleged scam emerged during the first day of the trial at Reading Crown Court.
Prosecutor Tom Nicholson listed the Scots gangsters who it is claimed have benefited.
The court heard claims that the ring was led by Christopher Zietek and Anthony Beard.
Mr Nicholson said Beard had already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to make a false instrument.
He added: “Christopher Zietek was a FOG (fraudulently obtained genuine passport) broker. He has exploited his criminal connections, especially in Scottish organised crime, to obtain clients.”
The prosecutor said the gang’s clients included Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson, who was extradited from the Netherlands last year.
Mr Nicholson said National Crime Agency officers who conducted covert surveillance spotted Stevenson and Beard talking to each other while looking at paperwork at London’s Victoria station in 2017.
He said the gang obtained Latvian passports, using the same method as with the UK passports, for Hughes and Barry Gillespie. It is further claimed the gang first obtained a UK FOG passport for Hughes in the name of Samuel May, he added.
The court heard Hughes was arrested, along with Barry Gillespie, in Portugal in 2018 after a kebab shop fight.
But Hughes was released after giving the name Samuel May.
Mr Nicholson said the gang then obtained a fake Latvian passport for Hughes, in the name of Alexei Rustinov, and had it flown out to him in Portugal. Hughes used it to travel to Italy in January 2020.
It was also claimed the ring procured passports for James and Barry Gillespie, the jury heard, who were involved in drug importation, murder, and money laundering.
The court heard the gang provided one for another criminal, James White, who was eventually arrested in Brazil and extradited back to Scotland.
Mr Nicholson said the gang also made a FOG passport for Jordan Owens, who was wanted over the murder of Jamie Lee in Glasgow in 2017.
But Owens was arrested in Portugal before the passport could be handed over. Zietek, 67, denies conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice, money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to make a false instrument.
Alan Thompson, 72, and Michael Thompson, 57, both deny conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice, money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to make a false instrument.
Juliet McCormack, 41, denies conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice and one count of conspiracy to make a false instrument.
Mandy Smith, 63, denies one count of money laundering.
Kevin Crinnion, 73, denies one count of conspiracy to make false instrument.
The trial has been scheduled for 11 weeks.
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