READING, Berkshire—A British gang supplied fraudulently-obtained genuine passports (FOGs) to enable drug traffickers, murderers, and other fugitives to cross borders without being noticed, a court has been told.
Six people went on trial at Reading Crown Court in England on Wednesday after a National Crime Agency investigation into “an organised crime group” which provided passports that were “highly valuable” among the criminal fraternity.
Prosecutor Tom Nicholson said the gang provided a number of UK and later Latvian passports, at a cost of up to £25,000 each, which enabled fugitives from justice and international drugs and gun traffickers to cross borders and book into hotels without being flagged up to law enforcement.
He said the gang’s customers included a Scottish criminal syndicate led by James and Barry Gillespie, which were the subjects of a Police Scotland probe called Operation Escalade. He said the Gillespies were involved in drug importation, murder, abduction, money laundering, and the possession of explosives.
Nicholson said the gang recruited people—often with drink or drug problems and unlikely to need to travel abroad themselves—who were willing to let their details be used as applicants and also found people who were willing to counter-sign the photographs.
He said the gang provided a “full service” to criminals and used code based on London slang—passports were “books,” application forms were “paper,” and photographs were “smudges.”
Nicholson said while it was possible to apply for passports online, the gang had chosen to do it on paper, with handwritten application forms and he described them as “a bit old school.”
‘Ringleader’ Has Pleaded Guilty
Nicholson said Beard had already pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to make a false instrument.The prosecutor gave details of a number of people the gang provided with FOG passports.
Among them was a Liverpool-based drugs trafficker and fugitive, Michael Moogan, who had been on the run since 2013.
Nicholson said Moogan, 36, was eventually arrested in Dubai in 2021, was extradited back to England and was convicted of drug importation, and is awaiting sentencing.
He said Moogan’s FOG passport was under the name of Jack Kelly, who was born in 1982 and was therefore of a similar age to Moogan.
Nicholson said another “customer” was James Stevenson, who he said was extradited from the Netherlands last year and is due to go on trial accused of drug trafficking and fire-raising, the Scottish equivalent of arson.
He said Stevenson was using a FOG passport under the name of David Morton.
Nicholson said the gang sourced a FOG passport for Jordan Owens, who was on the run from Scottish police who wanted to speak to him about the murder of Jamie Lee, who was shot dead in Glasgow in 2017.
He said Owens was arrested in Portugal before the passport could be given to him and Nicholson said there was then a dispute between Zietek and a man known only as “Dave” over the fee for the FOG.
Nicholson said Zietek said he expected to be paid £25,000 for it because Owens potentially faced a sentence of 25 years if caught and convicted, but he was in fact only paid £17,000.
The prosecutor said Owens was eventually extradited back to Scotland, convicted in March 2022, and jailed for life with a minimum tariff of 23 years, which Nicholson said was, “almost Zietek’s own estimate.”
Nicholson said the gang also obtained FOG UK passports for Paul Scott, David Walley, Graham Wilson, Paul Fleming, and Annette Mitchell, who he said were either convicted or suspected criminals.
Covert Surveillance Team
Nicholson said covert surveillance by National Crime Agency officers showed Stevenson and Beard meeting at London’s Victoria station in 2017 and talking while looking at paperwork.Christopher Zietek, 67, denies conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice, converting criminal proceeds (money laundering), and two counts of conspiracy to make a false instrument.
Nicholson said Zietek—who was formally known as Chris McCormack but took his wife’s name after getting married—split his time between London and a house in Spain.
The prosecutor said: “Christopher Zietek was a FOG broker. He has exploited his criminal connections, especially in Scottish organised crime, to obtain clients.”
Zietek’s daughter, Juliet McCormack, 41, denies conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice and one count of conspiracy to make a false instrument.
Alan Thompson, 72, and his brother Michael Thompson, 57, both deny conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice, converting criminal proceedings, and two counts of conspiracy to make a false instrument.
Alan Thompson’s partner, Mandy Smith, 63, denies one charge of converting criminal proceedings.
Kevin Crinnion, 73, denies one count of conspiracy to make a false instrument.
The trial is expected to last until March.
