The north’s most senior police officer has revealed he was branded a “racist” for warning that Romanian crime gangs were targeting the Highlands.
But Chief Superintendent Julian Innes defended his decision to go public with his fears – and said the “same pattern” was emerging in recent weeks because organised criminals view the region as a “soft touch”.
The area commander announced last October that east European gangs were suspected of committing crimes that were “planned and researched” – with thieves “casing the joint” before moving in.
It followed up to 50 incidents being reported at homes and businesses in towns and villages in communities such as Fort William, Nairn, Ullapool, Glenelg, Glenmoriston and Gairloch.
A series of arrests were made in the days after the appeal, and at least one man from Romania has been convicted over a theft in Lochaber.
But the Press and Journal understands that more than one local politician privately questioned the language used by Mr Innes when he issued the warning.
Quizzed on the issue yesterday, he said: “I deliberately took the conscious decision last year to tell local communities that were being targeted by Romanian crime gangs.
“I got a few slaps for that, and there was observations from people about me being racist. That’s absolutely not the case.
“It was fact that these people are Romanian, they are living in Glasgow, they are organised, and they were targeting rural areas, particularly this area.
“As a result of putting that public, we got tremendous public support. I’m very grateful for the way that was covered in the media, and we actually within a couple of days stopped two vans with travelling house-breakers in it, and bogus workmen, and another car that we stopped that was reported to us with a house-breaker that was being driven to commit crimes.”
Mr Innes said the issue had not disappeared after the recent arrests.
“We’ve recently had eastern Europeans back again, targeting Scottish and Southern Energy property, at Evanton, and again we successfully caught them.
“There was a group of them, they were from Romania, they were organised, and they did come from Glasgow. So the same pattern. There’s nothing racist about that. It’s fact.”
He vowed to repeat his public warnings if required.
“I think there may be organised crime groups operating in different parts of the country who will see the Highlands as a soft touch,” said the chief superintendent.
“But I’d like to think that the response we’ve had from the public will show them that they are extremely good in the Highlands at seeing something that’s different, and have the confidence to tell us.
“So again, if I know or have information that we’re being targeted, I will be very public about it.”