Author: Dan Mcdougall
Publication: Scotsman.com
Date: August 2, 2004
URL: http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=883762004
Key points
* Police blame millions of pounds
of gang fraud on disbanding Asian crime unit
* 'Operation Gadher' disbanded
over fears it would be seen as racist
* Warnings from 1998 that violent
crime and fraud by Asian gangs growing
Key quote
"Criminality is criminality regardless
of race, gender or creed, and fear of being labelled as institutionally
racist should never interfere with police work" - Police source
Story in full DETECTIVES investigating
what is believed to be the biggest fraud in Scottish criminal history believe
it could have been prevented if a unit created to tackle the threat of
Asian gangs had not been disbanded over fears that it could be seen as
persecuting ethnic minorities.
The Scotsman has learned that detectives
from Strathclyde Police are investigating a massive financial fraud, believed
to involve tens of millions of pounds and at least three major Asian crime
gangs from the South side of Glasgow.
According to senior police sources,
such is the scale of the complex international fraud, believed to involve
a number of major banking institutions, that the force may have to call
in assistance from other constabularies, such as West Midlands Police,
the Metropolitan Police and even Interpol.
The discovery of the elaborate scheme
- whose specifics cannot be detailed for legal reasons - and the vast criminal
network behind it involving people of Asian origin has led to urgent calls
from Strathclyde detectives for the re- establishment of Operation Gadher,
created specifically to tackle the troubling growth of Asian gang culture.
Despite the resounding success of
Operation Trident, a Metropolitan Police initiative to combat "black on
black" crime in London, Strathclyde's unit dedicated to Asian crime was
disbanded last October over fears among senior officers that the nature
of the investigation was not politically correct.
The decision to abandon the operation,
which it is claimed led to a number of investigations being scaled down,
was made with the full consent of Strathclyde's Chief Constable, Willie
Rae, and a number of other top officers.
According to one police source,
in light of the huge fraud inquiry and even the murder of the Glasgow teenager
Kriss Donald earlier this year - allegedly at the hands of an Asian gang
- the decision not to focus keenly on Asian crime in the city no longer
looks foolhardy but negligent.
He said: "The reality is Asian crime
in Glasgow is causing concern, not least because of links between Asian
criminal gangs in London and Birmingham, but because of their involvement
in a wide range of crimes, from financial and credit-card fraud to money-laundering
and perhaps more concerningly, drugs."
He added: "In light of some existing
investigations into the Asian criminal fraternity, there is a great deal
of anger among detectives that Operation Gadher and its forerunners were
stood down."
The source added: "From a policing
perspective, criminality is criminality regardless of race, gender or creed,
and fear of being labelled as institutionally racist should never interfere
with police work.
"If there are concerns about crime
within one particular ethnic minority - as we saw with Operation Trident
in London, and attempts by Greater Manchester Police to crack down on crimes
perpetrated by the Chinese community in the city - then those concerns
need to be addressed using all the resources you have to hand and, if needs
be, a dedicated team of officers to look at it.
"There are many Strathclyde officers
who were originally involved in Gadher who believe that a number of ongoing
inquiries at the moment may have been nipped in the bud eight to 12 months
ago."
As early as January 1998, senior
officers within Strathclyde were warned by their own intelligence units
that large-scale fraud and violent crime carried out by Asian gangs in
the Pollokshields area of Glasgow, which houses Scotland's biggest Pakistani
and Indian community, could spiral out of control unless they cracked down
on the ringleaders.
At the time, police chiefs commissioned
Operation Barber to investigate the scale of the problem, leading to intelligence
officers naming 220 individuals as potential threats.
The subsequent report on Asian gangs
stated: "Almost all the drug trafficking is being run through the 'Pollokshields
Team', who have a city-wide reputation for being ruthless with anyone who
threatens their position."
Although it was never officially
confirmed by the police, one of the names on the extensive list was believed
to be an individual whom police are still seeking in connection with the
abduction and murder of Kriss Donald in March this year.
Despite intelligence gathered by
the Operation Barber team and the recommendations that urgent action be
taken to try to penetrate Asian gangs in the city, the inquiry was effectively
put on hold until 2002, when a second investigation, entitled Operation
Gadher, was established.
In October last year, as revealed
in The Scotsman, it was halted.
Last night, a Strathclyde Police
spokeswoman refused to comment on the growth of Asian crime in the city
or on Operation Gadher.
She said: "From a police perspective
we take all crimes seriously ... regardless of who is breaking the law."