Scottish tourists enlisted in hunt for fugitive

Published on Saturday 25 July 2009 19:28

HOLIDAYMAKERS are being urged to help hunt down a Scottish fugitive in Spain, featured on a "Most Wanted" list for trafficking cannabis.

Scotsman Thomas Cochran, 50, has been on the run since 2000, when he is thought to have fled the country after being arrested in connection with serious drugs offences.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and Crimestoppers are intensifying the hunt for Cochran, who is among hundreds of criminals who have sought to escape law enforcement agencies by moving to Spain. Cochran is thought to have settled in Alicante, on the Costa Blanca.

He was arrested in April 1999 in relation to importing and supplying drugs and was granted bail but failed to appear in court in March 2000. A warrant was issued for his arrest and, in 2005, a European Arrest Warrant was issued.

Lord Ashcroft, founder and chair of Crimestoppers, yesterday appealed for holiday-makers heading to Spain and expats to help track down the missing suspect. He told Scotland on Sunday: "While we are very proud of the results so far, with over half the wanted criminals arrested, the public's help is still greatly needed in helping to locate the rest of the criminals on the list.

"By passing on information about these fugitives to Crimestoppers, you remain anonymous at all times – calls are not traced or recorded and no personal details are taken."

Cochran, who uses the alias Thomas Caldwell, was one of four Scots targeted in an appeal for information to help track down 40 of Britain's "most wanted" criminals, including murderers and drug traffickers, who are known to have fled the country. The appeal, launched in 2006, involved posting pictures and brief details of the suspected crooks on a website, and went under the name of Operation Captura, a joint project by Crimestoppers, Soca, the British Embassy and the Spanish authorities.

Two other suspects, accused of working together to defraud the Department of Work and Pensions by setting up false accounts between 1999 and 2004, were caught soon after the appeal. A third, alleged drug-dealer Alan Gordon, is serving a prison sentence in Spain, but Cochran remains on the run.

Working alongside Spanish police, involving extensive surveillance operations, Soca has been able to root out British criminals hiding in Spanish beach towns, and 21 of the 40 have been arrested and brought back to the UK to face justice.

The remainder on the Most Wanted List are believed to be still on the run in Spain, which has become known as "Costa del Crime" because of the large number of British criminals who have attempted to disappear off the police radar by escaping to Spain.