Dubai fast becoming new Costa del Sol for Merseyside s fugitives Joe Thomas
Criminals from Merseyside are increasingly heading to the Middle East as they seek to evade justice.
A growing number of fugitives are turning away from hideout hotspots closer to home and heading to Dubai.
The Gulf city has recently been the scene of two dramatic operations targeting men wanted on suspicion of crimes linked to Merseyside.
And intelligence suggests it is the location of at least one other high-profile Liverpool figure who is currently on the run.
The Netherlands and Spain’s Costa del Sol have, for decades, been popular places for Merseyside crooks to lie low.
Drug boss was beaten and forced to brush teeth with soap in Dubai jail Luke Traynor
A major cocaine and gun supplier who fled abroad as police were set to arrest him was regularly beaten in a Dubai prison and was forced to brush his teeth with soap. The Warrington siblings peddled high purity cocaine to Liverpool and other towns in the northwest and Wales, and had dealings with Merseyside associates.
But to try and escape justice, which led to his brother being handed a 27 year sentence in 2019, Leon managed to leave the UK and lay low for two years.