New police unit removes 100 foreign criminals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33126031

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Rapists, drug dealers and violent offenders were among 100 foreign nationals removed from Scotland in the first year of a new crime operation.

Police and the Home Office worked jointly on Operation Nexus to target criminals living illegally in Scotland.

The unit, based at the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh in Lanarkshire, runs checks on arrested foreign nationals.

Among those deported were a Bulgarian rapist who was stopped by police for a minor traffic offence.

Checks carried out by the Operation Nexus team revealed the 37-year-old also had numerous convictions for robbery.

He had raped a six-year-old girl and a woman in Bulgaria, but had failed to notify the authorities that he was a registered sex offender when he moved to Scotland.

Police Scotland shared that information with Home Office Immigration Enforcement officials, who secured his deportation.

A Lithuanian arrested on a variety of charges including assault in Aberdeenshire was also removed, as was a Nigerian arrested for traffic offences in Scotland. He had absconded from the Metropolitan Police after being charged with drugs offences.

Ruaraidh Nicolson, Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable for Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism, said the joint operation provided "a full intelligence picture of the offender".

He added: "Operation Nexus has proven to be very successful at identifying, targeting and removing not only high-harm offenders, but also low-level persistent foreign national offenders from Scotland's streets.

"With about 100 foreign immigration and criminal offenders removed in the first year of Operation Nexus alone, this shows the commitment of both the Home Office and Police Scotland to rid Scottish communities of the risk that these offenders pose and keep people safe."