Overview
- Multiple outlets report coordinated dawn raids in Dubai detained Ross ‘Miami’ McGill, Steven Lyons, Stephen ‘Jimmy’ Jamieson, Steven Larwood and a fifth man, with eight initially held and four later released.
- Police Scotland said it is not in a position to confirm any arrests in the United Arab Emirates, as its Operation Portaledge continues to probe around 80 crimes with more than 50 arrests in Scotland.
- The reported detentions are linked in coverage to months of gang attacks sparked by an alleged £500,000 cocaine deal paid with counterfeit notes and attributed to McGill’s Tamo Junto network.
- If extradition to the UK is pursued, legal experts and rights advocates say the process can take up to two years and would require UAE courts to assess dual criminality and other criteria.
- Human-rights concerns center on Al-Awir prison conditions described by former inmates and NGOs as violent and degrading, while related tensions include a reported attack on a McGill associate inside HMP Edinburgh and warnings of a potential power struggle from a former senior police chief.