WHEN he discovered drugs and guns in the cargo his firm was transporting, he told the police.
The discovery led to the prosecution of a criminal network stretching from Spain to Lithuania and sent him and his family into witness protection.
After searching Europe for a safe space, they came to Scotland “to disappear”.
Now that’s on a knife-edge thanks to Brexit and bureaucracy.
Speaking to the Sunday National on condition of anonymity, the man – who we will name only as B – said: “We would like to disappear here. This can happen to any person – when you see a crime, you have to report it. The prosecutor, the police – everyone involved in this case was promoted, but I was punished. I have lost my business, my home, my vehicles, my money and my identity.”
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All European citizens, B and his wife and baby were living in Spain and running a successful business when the trouble started. As well as selling fruit and veg, the firm made pick-ups and deliveries for other traders and, having been alerted to irregularities on some of the runs, B checked two consignments to find marijuana in one and guns in another.
In a joint operation, the Spanish Guardia Civil, Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra, Lithuanian Police and Europol arrested more than 50 people and seized guns, ammunition, firearms modification machinery, high-end vehicles and more.
Five cannabis farms were also found and all goods were bound for Europe on the back of fake documents. Those prosecuted included a leader of an eastern European crime syndicate and the mayor of a Spanish town.
It was B’s discovery that made the sting possible. That was in 2016 and now he says he was “naive” to have trusted authorities, who gave the trio new identities, 6000 Euros and told them to leave Spain for their own safety.
Because after six years of moving across Europe, their cover has been revoked and their bid for pre-settled status in the UK as European citizens has been refused by the Home Office.
As European citizens, the family should be able to register for the legal right to live and work here under post-Brexit rules. But this has been rejected by officials because the de-activated identities that B and his family were living under have now been listed by Spanish authorities as lost or stolen.
Details have been verified with Police Scotland by B’s MP Richard Thomson and presented to the Home Office by solicitors from Glasgow firm McGlashan MacKay. However, none of that has made a difference and the family is living in fear.
Officials have told him to apply for replacement documents. But after an armed gang fired shots at his uncle’s home in Poland, B says there’s still a threat to his family.
Thomson, of the SNP, told the Sunday National: “My constituent finds himself in a quite incredible situation which normally would be the stuff of fiction but this is his daily reality. We are continuing to pursue these issues on his behalf with the Home Office and others to seek a positive resolution.
“One of the biggest challenges is that with such unusual circumstances it appears that officials simply don’t know how to deal with it. They keep trying to apply standard rules to a far from standard immigration case.
“I would urge the Home Office in this very unusual case to be less rigid in their approach and have empathy for a family who find themselves in such life-changing circumstances as a result of doing the right thing.”
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Though B and his wife met in Spain, where she grew up, both hail from other nations. They say that they’ve contacted authorities in their birth countries but no help has been forthcoming.
Before coming to Scotland, they’d travelled to a number of different countries within the European Union and European Free Trade Area. Problems including the lack of a birth certificate for their child caused them to move on as they were unable to register the youngster for nursery and other services under local rules. In some places, they also feared detection by the gangs.
The first raids were carried out in Catalonia in April 2016, when more than 20 people from Spain and Lithuania were arrested. Weapons, drugs, cars and a five-figure sum of cash was seized. Around 20 further arrests were made as the operation moved to Malaga, Almeria, Murcia and Alicante, with further illegal caches discovered. The last phase played out in Valencia and Castellon in July that year.
Rafael Moise Gil, the mayor of the town of Torres Torres, was amongst those convicted. Authorities said several of the leaders of the criminal network were registered as workers at his fruit, veg and agricultural products firm. Fruit pallets from this firm were used to hide the illegal wares.
In Lithuania, deputy chief of police Edvardas Sileris said the guns would have been bound for buyers from terrorist groups. Police said the gang purchased deactivated AK-47 assault rifles, sniper rifles, pistols and other varieties in Lithuania before restoring them for use.
B says his life turned into “a nightmare” after he went to the police. He’d checked the pallets after being alerted to irregularities in the loading and unloading of consignments. When he got home, two gang members were already in his house with his wife and baby and told him to return to work as if he had seen nothing.
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The family left that night for another part of Spain, believing they would be taken care of.
He said: “I thought it would be like the movies and we would be given new lives. We were given IDs and 6000 Euros and advised to leave the country because it would not be safe for us. They never took care of us.
“These gangs are huge criminals. They will never forgive me. We like Scotland; we have never met such friendly people. I just want to be safe with my family and to be able to return to work. Right now, I don’t have permission. We don’t want to be illegal.”
Solicitor Euan MacKay said: “The worst thing about it all is how unsurprising it is; this callous disregard for people’s daily lives, where the Home Office caseworker seemingly can’t be bothered to read the content of letters, from us, or from the applicant’s MP.”
The Home Office was contacted for comment.
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