Episode 10 Fugitives

-Come on!

-On the run...

Get back here!

..and over here.

Hands out, now. Hands out!

When foreign criminals flee their home countries,

many hide out in the UK.

-Give me your hands.

-But if they think they're safe, they're wrong.

They know they're wanted.

A lot of these people are waiting for that knock on the door.

But the traffic in fugitives isn't all one way.

Across Europe, there are hundreds of British criminals

also trying to escape justice.

From the sun-drenched Costas

to the busy streets of the Dutch capital

This is how the police take down the fugitives...

You're under attest under the Extradition Act.

-Police officer.

-..both at home and abroad.

On today's programme - the Metropolitan Police

pay an early-morning call on a man accused of a vicious murder

back in Poland.

Can you open the door, please? It's the police.

The Poles had mentioned to us that he's

a violent individual and that he might offer violence towards police

if they approached him.

And caught on camera selling 20 kilos of cannabis.

The drug dealer who fled the UK to hide on Amsterdam's busy streets.

We had some information that he'd left the country.

That's when we really ramped it up

to try and hunt him down as a fugitive.

The Metropolitan Police are responsible for a city

that's home to more than 8.5 million people.

In amongst them are fugitives wanted for crimes committed

in other countries. It's the job of the Extradition Unit to find them

and send them to face justice.

The extradition team is made up of just over 20 detectives.

On average, they deal with 1,000 requests a year.

Last year alone, the team arrested just under 500 wanted subjects.

Detective Sergeant Pete Rance is on duty

with DCs Jamie Darby and Dave Salmon.

It's just after 5am and the team are getting up to speed

on their first target of the day.

What's this fella wanted for again, Dave?

He's wanted for human trafficking.

He's brought...

three people illegally into Hungary.

-No warning markers or anything?

-No.

His name is Mihaly Matyas.

He's Romanian, and has two days left to serve in prison for trafficking

three people from Romania to Hungary in 2014.

We get quite a lot of these types of offences.

I mean, erm...

..we get a lot of human trafficking for the purposes of prostitution,

that kind of offence.

Where Slovakia is one route, Romania is another route,

where they are being trafficked into the UK

to work as prostitutes in the United Kingdom.

We get a lot of those offences.

The detectives don't know whether the people Mityas trafficked

would have ultimately ended up in the UK.

Nevertheless, he's been convicted in Romania and needs to be found

to serve his time.

Their investigation brings them to this house in Wembley.

This is probably going to be multiple occupancy, I would imagine,

looking at the layout. I imagine that's a bedroom down there.

And it's going to be one up there.

HE KNOCKS ON DOOR

Morning. We're from the Met Police.

We need to speak to the people that live

-at this address. Can we come in?

-Yes.

-Thanks.

What nationality are you?

-I'm half-Romanian, half-Bulgarian.

-OK. And how many people live here?

-Six.

-Six. Are they all here at the moment?

-No.

All right. Can I speak to the people?

INDISTINCT

KNOCKING ON DOOR

They'll need to identify all of the residents to find out

if their lead has proved right.

Morning, chaps.

-Where are you from, fellas?

-Hungary.

-Hungary, OK.

A lot of the warrants that people are wanted on,

when we've researched those people we find that they're

living quite transient lifestyles.

They might be living in properties of multiple occupancy with lots

of people living in a shared house, or even in shared flats.

We've seen... Seen those types of scenarios as well.

The work we do is to try and find individuals.

So if we go to an address and we can categorically state that the person

does not live there, it actually assists us.

It moves things forward.

All right, sorry to trouble you.

Thank you very much.

-Thanks a lot.

-For now, the search is over.

There's no sign of the man they're after at this address.

Unfortunately, the fellow we're looking for is not there.

All the financial trace work that Dave had done

was suggesting that he had links there from March this year,

which is relatively recent when we, er...

In the scale of things, for the checks we do,

it's quite a recent trace.

Um...

It's one that we'll put on the back burner for a while,

do some more checks and see if we can get a subsequent trace of him

in London.

The detectives will need to investigate further, but for now,

there's no time to waste.

Their next case is a particularly crucial one,

as the team track down a Polish man accused of murder

who's been on the run for over a decade.

Are you aware you've got a problem in Poland?

Poland?

This is the Titan Task Force at work.

Police!

Tackling organised crime head-on,

Titan is the name of the police unit that deals

with the most serious criminal gangs in the North West.

Titan's mission is to tackle those at the highest echelons

of drug trafficking and other types of crime.

Detective Superintendent Jason Hudson

is the unit's head of operations.

When we try and look at these gangs,

try and identify who the key people are,

so that we can target our efforts and make sure that,

when we take a gang out, we can take the whole gang out,

rather than just one individual who might be lower down the food chain

than perhaps those who are more significant.

This is Glenn Madden.

He was in charge of a huge drug-dealing operation

worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

In 2015, he became the target of a major Titan investigation.

When drug dealers make large amounts of money from drug dealing,

they very often need to move that money about,

whether that's to pay for other drug consignments,

whether it's to pay for commodities -

buy cars, put it through businesses,

but somehow they've got to use that money

to get it to legitimate sources.

Detectives were investigating a huge money-laundering operation

in Manchester and they needed to prove that the dirty cash

was linked to drugs.

And that's where Glenn Madden came to their attention.

Madden was using others to build a large amounts of money

to pay for drugs.

One of Madden's gang members was delivering money

to the premises that Titan were observing,

and it was through the identification of that individual

that we subsequently became aware of Glenn Madden and his activities.

Madden was put under surveillance

so police could gather evidence

and discover the extent of his criminal network.

After he was captured on camera doing a drug deal for 20 kilos

of cannabis, police prepared to take his operation down.

During the subsequent search and arrest of others

that were involved in this enterprise,

again, large amounts of money were recovered,

about £200,000 in various establishments,

which all sort of assist in showing the picture

of this particular gang and how they operated.

Access to large amounts of money,

no doubt the proceeds of drug trafficking.

They tracked down and arrested his gang.

But Madden had been spooked and had already gone on the run.

We had some information that he'd left the country,

but we weren't able to tie that down as to where he particularly was.

That's when we really ramped it up

to try and hunt him down as a fugitive.

Titan called in the National Crime Agency to help find out

where Madden had gone.

We knew that he was of importance to Titan.

We knew that he was one of their high-profile fugitives.

We always generally get a sense of where someone stands within

a drugs conspiracy as well, so we realised that Madden

was quite high up and, you know, he was a priority target for them.

We would work up an intelligence profile

on any subject that we'd get,

so that we'll look at things like family, friends, associates,

patterns of life, look into things like financial checks,

see what kind of financial footprint they've got in the UK,

look at past travel, look at where they've been before,

where they've got links, where they've got criminal links.

It didn't take the NCA long to track him down.

Madden had fled to the Netherlands,

a destination that's long been popular

with British criminals on the run.

Still definitely one of the high-profile destinations

for UK fugitives.

It's very close, it's easy to get to and there's a lot of cheap flights,

there's a lot of ferries,

so if you want to get out of the UK and want to go somewhere quickly,

then the Netherlands is a logical choice.

But Dutch police are well used to British fugitives

trying to hide out in their country.

The problem is, er, that Amsterdam

is a very nice place to live and to visit,

because there's a nice atmosphere in Amsterdam.

And we are proud of that,

but it's also a capital for the organised crime.

Jeroen Poelert leads a team of more than 250 officers dedicated

to tracking down serious and organised criminals in Amsterdam.

They are sometimes hiding,

but also sometimes just walking along the streets

and they just look like you and me.

Drug dealer Glenn Madden had escaped the UK,

but police were right on his trail.

He was on the run and the net was closing in.

It's difficult to say, really,

what goes on in a criminal's mind when they're on the run.

I suspect they're always looking over their shoulder,

always expecting that knock on the door.

I hope that, every night, they're sleeping,

they're looking and worried that the door's going to get put in.

I hope that they're not settled.

I hope that they're not getting comfortable where they are.

The hunt was on.

Amsterdam's covert police - experts in spotting fugitive criminals -

were also now on the case,

and they wouldn't stop until Madden was behind bars.

West Yorkshire Police have an extradition team

based here in Wakefield.

Today, PCs Dave Lockwood and his partner Tom Allen

are setting off for the other side of the county

in search of a man with an interesting history.

We're going over to Keighley, er,

a little bit out of our usual working area.

We are looking for a Hungarian male born in 1980

called Sandor Polyakovics.

I've got a number of addresses.

However, with the research I've done,

narrowed it down to pretty much two.

Sandor Polyakovics has been sentenced to 20 months

in prison in Hungary for a long list of offences.

They include theft, counterfeiting documents

and stealing and killing pigs.

It's, er, quarter past one in the morning,

and we have two addresses that Tom's researched for this chap,

but we're not sure which address he's going to be at.

-This one.

-You think he's at this one now?

So we're just going to do a drive-by before we actually go in

to have a look and see if we can gain any intelligence -

vehicles, that sort of thing.

Tom's investigations have led him to identify the man's car.

Unfortunately, there's no sign of it at the first address.

So we've done a drive-by at the first address.

We're going to do a drive-by at the second address.

And, er, then Tom can decide which address he wants to do.

But the car's not at the second address either.

It's time to consider a more hi-tech approach to finding

the vehicle and their man.

The ANPR - Automatic Number Plate Recognition - technology exists,

whereby the camera can read the number

plate and that is then linked to a database,

and gives us that automatic capture

of a vehicle that we suspect is involved

in some form of criminality.

It's day two, Tom's heading back to Huddersfield,

where Automatic Number Plate Recognition has previously picked up

the wanted man's car.

The reason we've come to Huddersfield is

he does frequent this area and we've got some intelligence as to what

vehicle he's driving, so, if possible,

we'll try and stop him in his vehicle and place him under arrest.

Their target has a reputation, so there's more than one unit involved.

There's a use of violence in the commission of the offences,

but as I said, it's seven to nine years ago, the violence was used

against the animal and not people, so quite whether he'd be

willing to kick off with us to evade arrest, I don't know.

But they are not having much luck today.

The car isn't spotted by any of the

ANPR cameras.

Tom's quarry seems to be having a day off.

It's the next day and Tom's got his fingers crossed

that Sandor Polyakovics is back to his usual routine.

Tom's worked particularly hard on this case.

And, as he heads towards Bradford,

the call he's waiting for comes through.

The man has been spotted and stopped.

One month in though...

He is probably totally unaware that he is wanted.

Finally, persistence has paid off.

He's just in time to make the arrest.

-What's your name?

-Sandor.

-Sandor? Jump out, Sandor.

All right. What I'm going to do,

I'm just going to ask you to take a seat in the police car, all right?

Yeah. Vehicle stopped, male's detained.

Just jump in, mate.

Just give me a sec.

Jump in there, pal.

Sandor, the Hungarian authorities have issued a European Arrest

-Warrant for your arrest, all right?

-Yeah.

For offences of...

..theft, assault,

counterfeiting of money and cruelty to animals.

-Are you aware of this?

-I think, yeah.

-Yeah? All right.

You are now under arrest. You don't have to say anything,

but anything you do save maybe given in evidence, do you understand what that means?

A good result for us, as such.

We've done what's been asked of us by the National Crime Agency.

He'll be put before the court and it is for them to decide whether he's

suitable to be released back to his home address on bail or if he'll be

kept in custody. As far as we're concerned, it's job well done.

At the police station,

the man who's been on the run since he was sentenced in 2011

is given a cell for the night.

Tomorrow, he'll face a judge, who will decide if he will be sent back

to Hungary.

All right, take care.

In London, it's early morning and the capital's extradition team are

on the hunt for another wanted man.

Pete and his officers are approaching a house in Catford.

This morning, we're, er, in South East London, looking for this guy.

The man they're after is Robert Jarnut.

Polish police are accusing him

of murdering a man and causing actual bodily harm to another.

It is alleged he was part of a gang that,

um, punched and kicked a man, who died as a result of his injuries,

back in, um, 2005.

There's a violent marker against him.

Intelligence has been received from Poland that, um,

he will use violence towards police

if...if he's approached,

so it's obviously a consideration for us when we're dealing with him.

These detectives are well used to dealing with violent offenders.

If someone such as the case of Robert Jarnut,

where he is accused of murder, I have to consider that

that person, although he is accused and not convicted,

I have to consider the safety of

the people that I'm working with and myself.

I have to consider that he presents a risk to the people of

London as well.

Pete heads towards the house, backed up by the rest of his team.

THEY CONVERSE IN UNDERTONE

They cover all the exits, in case the wanted man

makes a break for it.

RAPPING ON DOOR

CAT MEOWS

I didn't know if he's in.

DOG HOWLS

When we go to an address, we're looking for signs of life.

We're looking to see if the property's inhabited

and there are, you know,

different little common-sense things that you'd look for,

whether there's pets inside the address,

whether there are children's toys outside, whether you can see

furniture, or pots and pans in the kitchen -

those sorts of things are just indicators that the property is

inhabited and, um, you know, we take it from there.

Can you open the door, please? It's the police.

Open the door, please.

-Someone's coming.

-Who's coming?

Eventually, a woman answers the door.

Hello. Sorry to trouble you.

Sorry, I'm going to close the door, because of the dog.

-That's all right.

-What's happened?

-Detective Sergeant Rance from

the Metropolitan Police. This is my colleague DC Derby.

-Mm-hm.

-Can we come in and speak to you?

CAT MEOWS

They go inside and up the stairs and immediately find themselves

face-to-face with the man accused of murder.

Hello, Robert.

-Hello.

-OK, what's your date of birth, please?

HE MUMBLES

Sorry. Hold on a sec. Stay with us, Robert.

Are your aware you've got a problem in Poland?

Poland? From years ago?

Yeah. Yeah. It is quite a long while ago. 2005?

You were involved in a fight in which a man died.

-No.

-They say. They say.

-OK.

Listen, there's no problem for you in the UK,

you're not in trouble... You're not in trouble with us,

although we are bound to arrest you,

cos there's a European Arrest Warrant for your arrest?

So you're under arrest on the warrant. You don't have to say

anything, but anything you do say may be given in evidence, OK?

You understand that? Listen, we'll treat you properly.

We need to get you to court today, OK?

If you're living here for two years, if you give us the passport, er,

the court will make a decision today

whether you can have bail or not, OK?

-OK.

-So we need to do those things.

-OK, have you got some clothes?

-Yes.

Can I just check those? Let me just check and make sure that there's

nothing in there that you shouldn't have.

It's time for Jarnut to be taken away.

But first, he needs to hand over his documents.

Where's your ID card?

-My passport?

-Where's your ID?

Where's your Polish ID card?

-No, I lost...

-You've lost it?

-Yeah.

-Have you got some trainers downstairs?

-Yes.

-OK.

-All right, let's go.

He's given a chance to say goodbye before he's cuffed.

SHE SOBS

THEY SPEAK IN OTHER LANGUAGE

He's been accused by the authorities in Poland of beating a man to death.

Depending on what happens at court later today,

it may be a long time before he sees his family again.

OK, good man.

No, it's here, here.

Mind your head as you get in.

OK. We are pleased with that.

Um, the background work that's been done to, er,

locate Robert Jarnut has paid off

this morning, so I was confident he was going to be inside the address.

I think, if they hadn't have answered the door,

we'd have just either had to force entry or wait there for...

..for somebody to come out and then, obviously,

we had to be prepared for any eventuality.

The Poles had mentioned to us that he's a violent individual and that

he might offer violence towards police if they approached him, um,

but as you've seen, he came very, very calm and cooperatively, so,

all things considered, for us,

it's a successful job.

Robert? Come up, please, mate.

-Good morning, sir. Do you speak English?

-A little bit.

A little bit? What's your preferred language?

-Polish.

-I'll just get an interpreter on the phone for you, sir, OK?

His extradition is sought in Poland

for one offence of, um, manslaughter/murder

and one of assault occasioning in actual bodily harm.

The bottom line is that he's wanted for a murder,

where a man was kicked and punched to death back in Poland,

albeit 11 years ago, and,

in anyone's book, that must set alarm bells ringing,

so it's surely worthwhile for, er...

for us to be out trying to find and locate people like this,

who are wanted for such serious offences and it means that,

potentially, we've got someone who... The risk has been removed

from the streets of London.

He came very calmly, very cooperatively, but as far as we're

concerned, there's an arrest warrant in place and,

while those arrest warrants are in place and we're able to arrest these

people, we will.

Back in 2014,

Manchester drug lord Glenn Madden was caught on camera selling

20kg of cannabis.

Before police could move to arrest him, he went on the run,

sparking an international manhunt.

Glenn Madden had links to several locations,

several estates across Manchester,

Devon and Cornwall,

we knew he had links to Dubai, where he'd been seen flying to,

so the key for us was trying to identify,

of the locations that we knew about, where we thought he might be at.

The National Crime Agency quickly tracked the drug dealer to

Amsterdam, where police were soon on the lookout for him.

The Amsterdam police are very keen on actually getting out and about

amongst expats and, you know, actually going to the areas where

they think expats and fugitives may be.

With little else for the Dutch police to go on,

photographs of Madden were given to their super spotters -

covert detectives with a heightened ability to recognise faces.

When you only have a face, you cannot do an investigation on that,

so you need people who can recognise faces and are on the streets.

One of these super spotters is this covert police officer.

We can't identify him because he is still active and undercover.

In June 2015,

this detective was the first to spot

a familiar face on the streets of Amsterdam.

With Madden in his sights,

the undercover officer tailed him through the city streets.

But then, approaching Dam Square, one of the busiest places in the

city, the fugitive disappeared.

The Dutch police weren't about to let him escape again.

Uniformed officers in Dam Square

were called in and Madden was arrested.

They tapped him on the shoulder and he realised that the game was up

and, from that point, I think he was ready to come back.

In the end, Madden didn't put up a fight.

He came quietly and seemed almost relieved to be going home to the UK,

even if it meant coming back in handcuffs.

The pressure of being on the run, the pressure of constantly looking

over your shoulder and being aware

of your surroundings, who's watching you, what you're saying,

what you're doing, constantly swapping phones,

will inevitably take its toll on anyone,

so we've found in the past, they've just said,

"I was ready to come back," you know,

"My time on the run was far more stressful than I ever imagined," you

know, "I was ready to be returned."

After only four months on the run,

Madden was sent back to the UK to face charges of drug trafficking and

money laundering.

Glenn Madden's time didn't last very long.

Um, he will have been expecting - I'm sure, at some point -

that the law would catch up with him.

I want every criminal who's on the run,

who's a fugitive who is trying to evade capture,

to think about that video, cos, one day,

somebody's going to come and tap them on the shoulder,

or they're going to arrest them, or they're going to grab them and get

hold of them, cos, one day, their time will come.

Less than two months after his arrest, Robert Jarnut,

the man accused of murder and actual bodily harm,

was returned to Poland to face trial in August 2016.

Seven weeks after he was arrested in Keighley, West Yorkshire,

Sandor Polyakovics -

the man convicted of a whole range of crimes from counterfeiting

documents to stealing pigs -

was sent back to Hungary to complete his 20 month prison sentence.

And British fugitive, Glenn Madden,

was extradited back to the UK in June 2015.

The following January, he was jailed for five years

at Manchester Crown Court for conspiracy to

supply cannabis and money laundering.