Episode 13 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 arrest under the Extradition Act.

Police officer!

..both at home and abroad.

On today's programme...

it's home time for this convicted criminal.

Listen, enough.

But there's trouble when he decides he's got other plans.

-Stop fighting.

-He was extremely drunk,

his behaviour was extremely erratic.

No, no!

Get in!

And six years after a violent escape,

a chance encounter with a Dutch bobby

brings a dangerous robber to justice.

I take the photo out of my pocket then I know it for sure -

it's Cunningham.

London's Metropolitan Police

have the busiest extradition team in the UK.

More than 20 detectives scour the city for foreign fugitives who are

wanted across the world.

It's just before 6:00am,

and DS Pete Rance and PC Dave Salmon are out in East London.

So this morning we're...

out working on a European Arrest Warrant case, which is a French

request for a man called Abdullah Naeem.

Abdullah Naeem, a Pakistani national,

is wanted by French police,

who suspect him of orchestrating a dramatic kidnap.

We've been given a lead by the French

that Mr Naeem was living in the East London area.

We've done some further background work which suggests that

the person that they believe was living at a particular address in

East London has moved to another address in East London,

so we're at that address this morning to try and identify him

and see if we can arrest him on the European Arrest Warrant.

It's quite an affluent area, by the look of it.

We'll try and get inside the property

and speak to the people that live there

and see if the person that we want's there.

The unit deals with people from all walks of life - rich, poor.

The warrants themselves are non-discriminatory.

Whether it be an affluent area or a deprived area,

it's our responsibility to go into those areas,

to find the people that are wanted.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Hi, good morning. I'm from the Metropolitan Police.

We need to speak to the people that live here...

-VOICEOVER:

-Abdullah Naeem's believed to be the leader

of a kidnap plot that occurred in France,

where two men kidnapped a man off the streets of Paris in

front of his wife and young child,

held him captive overnight for a ransom of 80,000 euros.

Naeem is at the address,

and despite the seriousness of the allegations,

it's a very straightforward arrest.

He was cool, calm and collected.

He's told us that he's a successful businessman in the UK,

he acknowledges that he's got a problem in France.

He intends to contest the extradition proceedings.

There, there, mate.

If you just sit that side and put your seatbelt on.

You jump in the back with him, Dave.

Once he's arrested, we're satisfied we've got the right person

named on the warrant, he'll be put before the court.

To all intents and purposes, it's out of our hands,

it's a matter for the court to decide

whether he's extradited back to France or not.

This man has come quietly.

But not everyone does.

And the day's not over yet.

-Say goodbye now.

-Coming up...

A Turkish man convicted of causing death by dangerous driving should be

-going home.

-Listen, enough.

But getting him on a plane is going to be a struggle.

You're fighting us, stop fighting.

In West Yorkshire,

PC Dave Lockwood is part of the team responsible for executing

European Arrest Warrants.

-Hello?

-The unit tracks down around 100 people per year who are wanted

for crimes committed in other countries.

Nice and still.

Next on the list is Klaudia Stepien.

She faces two years in prison for theft and resisting arrest -

crimes she committed in Poland almost ten years ago.

Well, the picture's quite interesting.

That's the picture that the Polish have provided.

However, this lady is known to us here in West Yorkshire.

She was arrested last year for being drunk and disorderly.

So, they're two different pictures.

If you'd have given me that picture and I'd seen that woman...

Totally different, for me.

Because she's resisted arrest in the past, Dave calls in backup.

She's called Klaudia.

The circumstances were, she stole a bike with others.

Police have stopped her, she's tussled with them.

She is... I'll give you her age.

Born in '90, so she's not old.

-Right? Are you happy? Any questions?

-No.

-Let's go.

-Follow us in, Paul.

-All right.

-All right.

Dave arrives at the address he's been told she could be living at.

The other officers deploy round the back.

It's clear whoever lives here has children.

A little kid's bike.

HE KNOCKS ON DOOR

Go ahead.

The house is empty. There's no-one home.

Are you happy there's no-one in there?

-There's a number of kids that are meant to live there.

-It is lived-in.

You know, there's sandwiches prepared there,

it's like they've just gone out somewhere.

Yeah, they'll probably come back later.

If she's got a kid, she's not going to be home late, is she?

So, it's not successful, but it's a good sign.

She's living here. So at least we know we've got the right address,

just the wrong time.

Later that evening, Dave thinks he's spotted the suspect's car.

That's it. Well spotted.

But when he follows it back to the house,

will he find the woman he's looking for?

When law enforcement officers search for wanted men and women,

the first thing they look at is how they spend money and communicate

with others.

You're looking for the whole story of their life and the pattern of

their life.

We're going into people's bank accounts, their tax records,

their spending habits - this is quite personal stuff.

It's getting harder to disappear.

If you're wanted, the chances are you'll be found.

What's more, fugitive hunters

now have the capability to track criminals

and their money in real time around the world.

Bank accounts have a huge amount of information

that's useful to law enforcement.

It can allow the police to look at your whereabouts

and your spending patterns, which can be very useful for them

in trying to figure out how to get to you.

But it's not just bank accounts.

Every pound we spend on everyday items leaves its own trace.

Supermarket loyalty cards, subscriber information for,

you know, TV and video channels,

social media, tax records.

Anything and everything where you leave,

particularly an electronic footprint,

then we can check that.

The day-to-day lives of friends and family also come under scrutiny.

Law enforcement might also be interested

in that criminal's associates.

It might just be family members or friends,

but there may come a time when law enforcement takes an interest in

those bank accounts because that person

is being used as a conduit for spending

on the part of the criminal who's on the run.

And for the most serious cases,

technology will now pinpoint a fugitive's exact location

as they make a phone call.

Going to the far end of the scale,

if it warrants it, lifetime cell site analysis.

So we can tell where you are at any given second, like you see in films.

So, no secrets there, we see it in Hollywood every single day.

Just like in the movies, a quick card payment or phone call

can be all it takes to find a fugitive.

You're putting a big sign pointing to yourself.

And because of that, that will get reported,

and we do have lots of cases and evidence around this,

and we'll find you.

Over a decade ago, the Met Police's Elite Flying Squad

had to rely on more old-fashioned policing methods

to catch some of Britain's most hardened criminals.

In 2003, they arrested these two - Noel Cunningham and Clifford Hobbs -

as they tried to steal more than £1 million

from a cash-in-transit van in Brixton, south London.

I would describe them as old-school armed robbers.

They were very, um...

They were very well-organised, their planning was very good,

they knew exactly what they wanted to do.

Despite being captured, their scheming continued from behind bars.

As they were taken to court to stand trial,

a violent gang hijacked their prison van and helped them escape.

Open the hatches!

I was in my office, it was shortly after 9am,

I received a call from officers at Tower Bridge to explain to me

two Flying Squad prisoners had actually been involved in an escape

from the prison van on the way from prison to the court,

and that they were on the run at that time.

News of the UK's first armed prison van breakout hit the headlines.

At six o'clock, these are tonight's top stories...

On the run - three escape after an armed hijack of a prison van.

I must stress that obviously the people that are involved

in the incident today are very, very dangerous,

and we can only assume that Hobbs and Cunningham

are going to be dangerous as well,

so please do not approach them, let the police do their job.

Detective Superintendent Mick Allen knew he had to move quickly.

It was quite clear that,

with the level of sophistication and planning that went into this,

that they weren't going to stay in the country too long.

The Met turned to the public for help.

Now, give us a description of the two guys

you're most interested in, Cunningham and Hobbs.

Bearing in mind this is about a year old,

but we don't think they'll have changed a great deal.

-Cunningham is 43...

-He's the one on the left?

He's the one on the left, with the glasses.

He's about 5'11" tall, quite an athletic build.

We think he's probably very similar to that now.

Whereas Hobbs is 44, 5'10" and rather larger.

And he certainly had a fair amount of weight on him,

even if he's tried to slim now,

he's probably still got a bit of a beer gut on him.

I think it would be very difficult for him to slim down,

he's probably about the same, if not bigger, now.

I think there was probably about four or five officers there,

we received quite a lot of information

that they may actually not be in the UK

and they may be in other parts of other countries.

But despite the calls, another year would pass

with the Flying Squad no closer to catching them.

They believed Cunningham and Hobbs had split up

and gone to ground somewhere in Europe.

It was time to bring in the specialist agencies.

One of the good measures for us is to see where the first bits of

anonymous intelligence come through to suggest where someone is.

And in this case, it was Spain.

So we initially started focusing our attentions there.

Their instincts were right.

And in 2007, investigators, with the help of the Spanish police,

tracked Hobbs to Malaga, on Spain's Costa del Sol.

He was arrested and sent back to Britain to face justice.

When you receive information like that, it's exceptionally gratifying

because you know just how much hard work

has been put in by a lot of dedicated officers.

But Cunningham was still on the run.

Investigators were receiving reports

linking him to locations across the globe.

There were suggestions he was in Ireland, in Dubai,

even potentially in Jamaica.

So all those leads were followed up and investigated.

And then it's perhaps fair to say there was a little bit of a lull.

Then, in 2009,

new intelligence linked the armed robber to the Netherlands.

His image was circulated amongst the police in Amsterdam.

Now it was down to the Dutch police.

Would their officers be able to track down the criminal

who'd been on the run for six years?

In London, DS Pete Rance has received an urgent call

from colleagues on the Met's extradition team.

All right, we'll go on a blue light there

and see if we can get him and get him out.

A fugitive whose extradition has already been ordered

is refusing to leave the country.

We've got notification from one of our team who's out at Heathrow

to oversee the extradition of a prisoner back to Turkey,

but the prisoner hasn't turned up. He's on bail, hasn't turned up.

The flight's due to leave in an hour and 15 minutes.

The man they're after has been convicted in Turkey.

He killed one pedestrian and injured another

riding a motorcycle whilst drunk.

But now he's refusing to go back to serve a sentence

of three years and three months.

The officer who's out at the airport has established contact

with this fella's wife,

who's told us that he's at the address

but he's saying that he's not willing to return to Turkey.

He's aware that she's speaking to the police on the phone.

This puts his wife in a potentially dangerous situation.

It's an emergency for us to get there to make sure

that she's safe and well, as well as him.

They arrive at the address and make their way to the apartment.

Myself and two colleagues walked through,

and immediately saw Mehmet Ciftcioglu

sitting on a sofa in the front room of the property,

just in his underpants,

drinking alcohol from a glass.

You could smell booze on him straight away,

so I knew that he'd been drinking heavily.

-All right, how are you?

-I'm OK, sir. Thank you.

You're supposed to be at the airport, you know that?

Ah, yes, sir.

You have to go to Turkey today, you have to go to Turkey today.

So we can slow things down and you can say goodbye to your wife...

-What, now?

-Yeah, today.

He was asking whether we intended

to pull him straight out of the address, and I said to him that...

As I say, he was in his underpants when we got there,

so it's difficult to force somebody into their clothes,

so you're trying to get their consent to get dressed,

but we managed to do that.

I said to him, "If you get dressed, you can have a half hour, you know,

"with your son to say goodbye to your son and your partner."

You need to have some respect for us now, OK?

I want you to get dressed,

and then you can have some time with your son.

If not, you will have to come with us, OK?

He was extremely drunk, his behaviour was extremely erratic.

One moment he was laughing,

one moment he was crying and picking up his small son,

who was another consideration, obviously.

We are going now. We've been here nearly two hours, OK?

So say goodbye now.

But this is... This is...

Listen, listen.

Enough, OK?

-VOICEOVER:

-He was desperate not to return.

He faces a three-and-a-half-year sentence

for causing death by dangerous driving.

He's convicted of mowing down two people in Turkey when he was drunk.

Do you enjoy these ones?

-No, not at all.

-Far from it.

-Stop, stop.

The man is led away in handcuffs, but he won't go quietly.

It is a pain...

We'll get to the car.

It's your fault, you're fighting us, so stop fighting.

-Sorry?

-You're fighting us.

No, no!

He's kicking.

Finally, they get him into the car

and he's driven straight to the airport.

Mehmet Ciftcioglu, guilty of death by dangerous driving,

is on his way back to a Turkish prison.

In 2003, two audacious criminals, Noel Cunningham and Clifford Hobbs,

were on their way to court.

They were on trial for the attempted theft of over £1 million.

But when their prison van was hijacked by armed men,

Hobbs and Cunningham escaped.

Instead of lying low, the pair fled abroad and went on the run.

Investigators launched a global manhunt,

and in 2007, Hobbs was arrested in Spain.

But Cunningham was nowhere to be found.

Then, six years later, in Amsterdam,

police arrested a man for petty shoplifting.

He was using a false name and passport.

Unfortunately, at that point, they hadn't realised who he was

or that he was wanted, and he'd been released.

They hadn't taken his fingerprints or anything like that

cos it was just a street check, you know, it was very low level.

Although the shoplifter was released,

the British passport he was carrying at the time

was checked back in the UK and linked to Cunningham.

British police alerted their colleagues in the Netherlands.

The Dutch police then circulated his image amongst local officers,

local bobbies on the ground,

the ones that were going to be doing the street patrols.

And that's invaluable for us,

because that's eyes on the street, 24/7.

To know that there's people actually out there

proactively looking for Cunningham,

that makes all the difference for us.

At the police station in Amstelveen, just outside the capital,

district agent Ferry den Edel was at his desk.

I was in the police station

when I was visited by two detectives from the quick response unit.

And they tell me that they are looking for Cunningham.

I got that picture,

and I make a copy of that, and I put it in my jacket.

And then about half an hour later, I go out to the shopping centre.

Ferry's local beat took him to an upmarket shopping precinct

in Amstelveen.

I walked from the brasserie, and then to the tapas there,

the BLVD cafe,

I heard a few guys talking English.

And I spotted Cunningham.

Amazingly, a mere 30 minutes after picking up the fugitive's mug shot,

this local bobby had chanced upon him.

And I take the photo of Cunningham out of my pocket, and I look again,

and then I know it for sure, it's Cunningham.

Cunningham obviously felt safe,

he felt that he was able to do that without any risk of being arrested.

Or at least that's what he thought.

Ferry made a call to the SWAT team,

and in minutes, the precinct was swarming with cops

and Cunningham was in cuffs.

This time he wasn't getting away.

It's very unique when you've got a picture,

and within half an hour, you've spotted the guy,

and two hours later, he was in prison.

He'd evaded elite teams of detectives for six years.

But Cunningham's arrest by a local patrolman

was more than just a lucky break.

It is lucky in the sense that that officer was there at the right time

to actually spot the individual.

But the work that goes into making sure they're aware of them,

and the work that goes into putting that person's face out there

isn't lucky at all.

And six years on from that dramatic escape from a prison van in London,

officers from the Flying Squad were finally able to close the case.

There quite clearly is a great deal of satisfaction

and a great deal of closure, I suspect,

because a lot of work has been put into that

by a lot of different officers over the years,

and it's something that we just won't let go,

and so, yeah, it's another chapter that's closed.

Some fugitives living in Britain are wanted for crimes

which took place many years earlier.

And it can come as a shock when their past catches up with them.

That's it, well spotted.

In Leeds, PC Dave Lockwood is looking for a woman wanted in Poland

for crimes committed ten years ago.

Earlier in the day, he found her house empty.

But now he's spotted her car and followed her home.

We have to bear in mind, there's definitely one,

possibly two young children in t'house.

So it's 9.15pm,

hopefully they'll have put them to bed

by the time we knock on t'door and we can talk to t'adults,

I don't want children in t'way if we can help it.

The woman was convicted for theft and resisting arrest.

OK, are you happy with that?

As a precaution, Dave's called in support from local officers.

Right, OK. I'll just tuck down and you can tuck in behind us.

All right, cheers.

With the team in place, Dave approaches.

I don't want to knock too loud with the kids in there,

but at the same time, I'd like her to answer the door.

Hello, sorry for troubling you, it's the police.

-Are you OK?

-Yes, I'm fine.

Are we OK to come in and have a chat with you, please?

-For who?

-Well, I think it's yourself. What's your name, love?

-Huh?

-What's your name?

-Klaudia.

-Klaudia, yeah, I need to come in and speak with you, please.

-OK.

OK, do you want to put your kids to bed?

Hiya, are you OK?

We'll wait down here for you.

The police visit has unsettled the children.

-Is she OK?

-No, she's worried.

-She's worried?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Klaudia, did you say it was Klaudia?

-Yeah.

-What's your full name, please?

-Klaudia Stepien.

-And your date of birth?

2nd of February, '90.

Right, I've got some really bad news I think

that's going to surprise you and shock you.

-You're Polish, yes?

-Yes, I'm Polish.

Poland have issued an arrest warrant for yourself,

-they want you arrested.

-Mm.

Is this something you know about?

No.

Right. They've issued a warrant for your arrest

because they want you to go back to Poland to sort a problem out.

Is your husband here? Do you speak English?

Yeah, I speak English.

I'm not going to do anything. Do you want to get the kids to bed?

Get the kids sorted out, and then we'll talk, OK?

I'm trying to deal with this,

but the kid's upset, she's trying to deal with the kid

and I don't want to... I don't want to interfere with her.

Sit down in one area for us.

This visit from the police has come as a shock for the family.

Is your daughter OK? Is she in bed OK now?

Yes, we were watching TV.

Right, I want to make sure she's all right

so we don't have to worry about her, OK? Am I all right to take a seat?

-Yes.

-Right.

The Polish authorities have issued a warrant for your arrest, OK?

There's no bother here,

there's nothing that's happened in the UK that the police here

are wanting to talk to you about.

But because Poland's issued this warrant,

it's been authorised here in the UK,

so I've received the paperwork and been tasked to come and arrest you.

Do you know about this problem? Has it come as a shock,

or did you know there was something going on in Poland?

No, that is a long time ago, yes.

So that is why it's a shock, really.

The Polish authorities...

..are wanting you to serve a custodial sentence in Poland

for this offence, even though it was nine years ago.

That's what they want. I don't know what's going to happen,

cos it's my job to find you and send you to court.

Have you calmed down now, do you understand?

Have you got any questions you want to ask me?

Are you all right looking after the daughter?

Is there anything for work?

Yeah, he's my husband.

Yeah, and I apologise for the timing

and I apologise that it has happened,

I'm just doing the job. I know it's not ideal cos you've got a family.

Right, I'm arresting you on a European Arrest Warrant

for an offence of theft and resisting arrest,

which is what I've explained to you.

You do not have to say anything,

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

I deal with these a lot,

and I don't see any reason why you can't come home tomorrow,

as long as you can satisfy your bail conditions, OK?

I know it's probably going to be a horrible night for you

and a horrible day, but you should be coming back home tomorrow.

OK? As long as you can sort it out with the court.

Dave makes sure the woman has an opportunity

to say goodbye to her children

before being taken into custody.

I knew it was going to be emotional, but you don't get used to it,

even after all this time. It's not nice sometimes, what we have to do.

But I can't pick and choose, can I? I've got to...

I've got to deal with t'ones that I have to deal with.

-Are you OK now?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Watch your head.

OK, I'll see you when you get down there.

They'll be watching you from the other side, OK?

I'll let Elland Road know.

She's taken to the police station, where she'll spend the night,

before being taken to London in the morning,

where her case will be heard.

Abdullah Naeem,

who was accused of kidnapping a man on the streets of Paris,

was extradited back to France to face trial in January 2017.

That same month,

Klaudia Stepien was sent back to Poland

to serve the rest of her sentence.

Get in!

And Noel Cunningham,

who was busted out of a prison van on the streets of London,

was caged for 18 years back in 2010.

His fellow fugitive, Clifford Hobbs,

pleaded guilty in court to conspiracy to rob

and escaping lawful custody.

He was jailed for life.