Episode 4 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, where the villains seek a life of luxury,

to the busy streets of the Dutch capital,

where many continue their life of crime.

We join the crack teams hunting them down.

When you take the risk to come to Amsterdam as a criminal,

there's a high chance that we get you.

When it comes to justice, borders are no barrier.

You're under arrest under the Extradition Act 2003.

This is how the police take down the fugitives.

Police officer!

Both at home and abroad.

If you're thinking of running, don't.

We will find you.

We will bring you back.

On today's programme:

The search for an elusive Polish drug dealer.

He's not at work.

The staff there have told us he's just left 15 minutes ago.

He's not at home.

Karol?

Will it be third time lucky

in the never-ending search for this phantom fugitive?

The Liverpool gangsters ran a campaign of terror,

from a prison cell.

These two individuals were really dangerous.

They had a long history of violence.

But when they were busted out of a prison van

and fled to another country,

they were betrayed by their own phones.

And, in West Yorkshire, the fugitives are difficult to find.

But the hunt for one wanted man uncovers a whole different crime.

Police, show yourself!

Back!

Get on the floor!

For a week in November,

police across the UK run a special operation,

cracking down on foreign criminals hiding out in Britain.

A lot of the people that we're after

with these European arrest warrants,

they are very transient by their nature.

The fact that they've come to this country from their own country

explains that for you there and then.

And just the nature of the work that a lot of them do,

a couple of months here, a couple of months there,

they can be incredibly difficult to try and get hold of and pin down.

In Redditch, Worcestershire,

police constables Carl Lacey and Danny Evans are working

with a team of other officers.

They have a long list of outstanding European arrest warrants for

foreigners who have committed crimes back in their native countries.

We know it's hard work, but you have to put the time in to get results.

Their next case will prove to be a tricky one.

They're after a Polish man called Karol Michalski.

A serious criminal sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison

for drug dealing and multiple thefts.

So what we know is what the offence is, date, time and location,

and the fact that they've fled their home country and come to the UK.

That's why the extradition warrant has been issued,

so we can get them back to their country

to serve their prison sentence.

They're on their way to Karol Michalski's last known address.

It's a shared house with several tenants,

so the drug dealer could be behind any door.

Karol?

Hello, sir, you all right?

Danny checks upstairs.

-Are you Polish?

-Polish.

OK.

Do you, um... Do you know a guy called Karol Michalski?

-Lives here.

-No.

Neither the man upstairs, nor the one downstairs, is Karol Michalski.

I spoke to the people that were currently living at that flat.

They said they'd never heard of this guy.

But then Danny spots evidence

Michalski has been living here recently.

There's letters to this premises.

It's obviously communal flats, four flats in here,

so there's obviously communal post. But there's...

letters addressed to this gentleman that we're interested in.

It looks fairly official stuff, so he has at some point resided here.

But he's obviously not here at the moment, so we'll move on.

But the officers aren't giving up.

Danny puts in a call to the landlord

to see if he knows anything about his former tenant's whereabouts.

There's good news.

-The landlord said he's moved in two doors down.

-OK.

The landlord thinks Michalski could be living in one of two houses

further down the same street.

Karol, come on down.

The only question is, which one?

OK, back's secure.

Knocking at house one, there's no answer.

Knocking at house two...

..the same lack of response.

Local residents are keen to help the police.

Do you know who lives next door?

These people that we're talking to do want to help the police,

and when we asked them a question,

it's almost like they want to give us some information

because they don't want to get in trouble.

What they don't realise is that they're really helping us

by giving us that information, and they're not in any trouble,

but they're just assisting us with our enquiries.

Usually, it proves quite fruitful.

The team are lead to believe Michalski lives in the second house.

If the information that we've got is correct,

it's probably this is the house this gentleman's living at.

We're just trying to gain access at the moment.

That's why he's probably moved down, it's a bigger house, isn't it?

The light's on upstairs. We just can't get in.

We need to get access to the building.

People are living here, because there's lights on at the premises.

Looking through the windows, you can see food in the kitchen.

If he is in there, he's hiding from us now

because he knows that we're here now,

so we're not leaving here until we've got in here.

This address has a different landlord.

Carl manages to get him on the phone,

and he confirms Karol Michalski does live here,

but is likely to be at work at the moment.

We've got a business address for him.

Let's go to the address first.

With a new lead to follow, the team are determined to find their man.

They're convinced they'll intercept Michalski at his place of work.

Seven years ago,

two men dominated the world of organised crime on Merseyside.

Kirk Bradley and Tony Downes described themselves

as "blood brothers".

Together, they led a gang running a campaign of terror.

These two individuals were really dangerous.

They had a long history of violence.

The pair kept their own hands clean,

ordering others to carry out shootings, kidnappings,

and hand grenade attacks,

mainly against their underworld rivals in Merseyside.

So on one occasion, there'd been a dispute

several weeks earlier within the city centre, within Liverpool,

and that resulted in one of those individuals involved in that dispute

being kidnapped, placed into a van, driven to a wooded area,

where he was abandoned, having been shot in the leg.

That is just an example of the levels that these people go to.

Incredibly, throughout this reign of terror, Tony Downes was in prison,

serving a seven-year stretch for a series of raids on cash machines.

From his cell, he masterminded the gang's criminal activity,

making thousands of calls using smuggled mobile phones.

He coordinated all of these attacks through use of his mobile phone,

so that is people being shot, houses being shot,

and hand grenades being thrown through people's houses.

That from the prison cell, where he's sat with a mobile phone.

But once Downes was arrested, both he and Kirk Bradley

were eventually sent for trial in May 2011.

11 weeks into the court case, they staged a daring escape -

again planned by Downes from his prison cell.

On the 18th of July, their prison van was making its way

from Manchester to Liverpool Crown Court.

A gang of masked men, armed with a sledgehammer and a gun,

were lying in wait.

They smashed the windows of the driver's door,

demanded that the driver open the rear of the vehicle,

which he did, under duress.

A firearm was brandished at that driver.

Once inside the vehicle, the inner cells were opened,

where Bradley and Downes were located,

and then both males were taken off the vehicle.

The getaway car was soon found, but Bradley and Downes had vanished.

The dangerous fugitives were on the run.

They had shown absolute disregard for the safety of others on the road

whilst they were being broken out.

The fact they then went on the run straight away...

You know, it had been pre-planned,

they had a huge network of criminals around them,

and the fact that someone had taken the time, risk

to put themselves in the situation of breaking them out

shows that, actually, the criminal fraternity

were very fearful of them, and held them in very high regard

that such effort was put to break them out.

A major manhunt began.

They were now two of the UK's most wanted.

In West Yorkshire,

searching out foreign criminals wanted by their home countries

is a priority for the police.

But finding them is a tough job.

New warrants arrive every day,

but wanted men and women often know how to stay under the radar.

I think it's about the lifestyle of the people who are wanted,

and they stay on the move.

We go by the most up-to-date information we've got.

We verify that that information is accurate,

but in the time that it takes us to verify an address, they'll move on,

and it's almost a game of cat and mouse,

and eventually we catch up with them.

On the late shift are officers Dave Lockwood and Tom Allen.

They've got a long list of fugitives to search out tonight.

First up is a prolific criminal who's already been sentenced

to two years in a Czech prison for a spate of burglaries.

RADIO CHATTER

The house is in darkness and there are no signs of anyone living here.

They've managed to wake the neighbours,

who confirm that the Czech burglar is long gone.

This man?

No.

No, you've never seen him?

-They've moved out?

-He lived there, yeah.

-Thank you.

-Can you jot that down?

-Yeah, can do, mate.

Undaunted, they head off

in search of the fugitive's last known girlfriend.

Right, mate, ready to knock?

It's 1:30am when they arrive at the property

in the Beeston area of Leeds.

Even though all the lights are on,

it looks like the residents are asleep.

-Hello there.

-Hello.

-Hello, what's your name?

Once more, the officers discover

that the man they're after has been and gone.

The partner of the wanted male listed this as their home address

in October last year. The occupants now are saying they do know him,

they don't actually like him, they're not friends,

but they did let them stay there for a couple of nights.

They were just sofa surfing, basically.

As far as they are aware, they are around Beeston,

but just crashing at different mates' houses as and when.

We've left them our details

so that they can let us know if they do see them,

-or find out where they're living.

-More importantly, they told us

that the guy we're after does know he's wanted

under a European arrest warrant,

so that makes our job more difficult.

Cos he'll know to avoid us.

I think anyone in that position would move.

They'd want to be a moving target, rather than static.

And also, some of the lifestyle that some of them have,

with the associates they mix with,

they need to stay agile because of different kinds

of subversive work they might be involved in,

but also, some of them cross swords with other criminals,

and so it's not just us they're trying to evade, but other villains.

For now, the trail of the Czech burglar has gone cold.

So far, it's been a disheartening evening for Dave and Tom.

But they're not hanging around,

and are straight onto the next case on their list.

A man wanted in Poland.

So he's wanted for disqualified driving,

and he's wanted to go back to prison for ten months and ten days.

And he's 47 years of age.

It does seem a bit harsh going round at...

gone two in the morning for him,

but it's been agreed that he's wanted,

the court's authorised it,

the National Crime Agency's authorised it,

so it's our job to locate and arrest him.

Sounds empty.

And when they arrive at the last known address

of the man they're after, they find more than they expected.

It's the police, open the door!

Duvet on the floor.

It looks like they were just sleeping on a rough duvet.

I'm getting a strong smell of cannabis at the front.

What the officers discover inside this house

goes to show it's worth pursuing every lead they get.

Back in Redditch, Worcestershire,

West Mercia Police are attempting to track down

Polish fugitive Karol Michalski.

He's been found guilty of a long list of metal theft

and drug dealing offences in Poland,

and sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison.

He's avoiding jail time by hiding out in the UK.

But finding him was proving difficult.

The team have already visited several addresses with no success.

The intelligence that we may receive one week,

that this fella is working in X place,

that can take some weeks to come through to us,

and by the time we get out there to try to substantiate it

and try to execute any warrants,

that person can already have moved on.

Continuing the search,

officers Matt Britton and Jim Alcock are acting on a tip-off

that he's working at this warehouse.

The plot sickens.

Yeah, we... He does work there, I think.

He should have turned up yesterday, but he didn't.

So Matt and Jim go back to the house

Michalski's supposed to be living in.

When they were here previously, there was no answer at the door.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

-Police.

Can we come in for a moment? Yeah.

Do you know anyone called Karol?

-Karol?

-Yeah, Karol.

Ah, he's not at home, he's at job now.

He's at a job now, is he?

Yeah, but I can show you his room, if you want.

-Please, yeah. Which room is he?

-Upstairs.

-How long has he been at work for today?

-Um...

THEY KNOCK

Karol?

Frustratingly, Karol Michalski isn't here.

But his stuff is.

We've confirmed that the gentlemen we're after

does reside in this room.

We found other documentation with the gentleman's name on.

Identity card, banker's card.

So we're more than happy that this is his place of residence.

Then Jim finds a clue as to where Michalski might be.

That's interesting.

A letter with details of a new job.

We've got an address in Bromsgrove, Matt, so...

I think we've probably missed him by about half-hour.

-He's there until ten o'clock.

-Yeah.

So, with the paperwork we've managed to find in the address,

we've got some telephone numbers on it,

we've contacted those telephone numbers.

One of them was a recruitment agency.

I spoke with the recruitment agency,

they've confirmed that the gentleman we're looking for

is now employed by them, and he's at an address in Bromsgrove.

We're going to make our way there now, see if we can detain him.

The trail leads to a second packing warehouse.

It's an induction day for new staff,

but after a quick search of the group,

there's still no sign of Michalski.

We've turned up at his place of work, where he's working today,

and the staff there have told us that he's just left 15 minutes ago,

so we've only just missed him.

He walked out the factory as we were probably driving up the road,

got onto the bus and headed back to his home address,

and we had literally missed him by a couple of minutes.

That was quite frustrating, yes.

With a long prison sentence for seven separate sentences

waiting for him back in Poland,

it's clear why this man is doing everything he can to evade capture.

But the officers aren't giving up.

They'll keep going until Karol Michalski is found and arrested.

So fingers crossed this time. Third time lucky.

In July 2011, two vicious criminals from Liverpool,

Kirk Bradley and Anthony Downes, were 11 weeks into their trial

when they staged an audacious escape from a prison van.

Across Europe, a manhunt began, and the public were asked for help.

Now, police urgently need to trace these two.

This is Kirk Trevor Bradley, and Anthony Tony Downes.

They escaped from a prison van in July.

We started to look at alerting the airports, seaports,

because we were under the impression

that they may well look to leave the country.

When major criminals go on the run,

it's the National Crime Agency who coordinate the search.

Back in 2011, it was their predecessor,

the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

They knew that searching for the pair would be difficult.

We knew that there would be certain pieces of intelligence

that were overlapping, so a piece of intelligence around Downes

might also have applied to Bradley,

so it made it harder in that we had to run the cases together,

we had to cross-reference everything that we had to make sure

that there wasn't anything that we missed,

to make sure that we weren't lead down the wrong path.

Early intelligence suggested that the pair were hiding out in Spain,

but they were still on the move.

We had an inkling that they might have moved across from Spain.

We started to focus our efforts on Amsterdam.

We had some really good intelligence around associates,

around people perhaps travelling out to see them.

We built up a really good pattern,

which corroborated what we already thought.

So we had a pretty good idea

of where they were in the Netherlands by that point.

26-year-old Bradley was already known to the authorities,

having previously been arrested for gun crimes.

Police made a public appeal in the Netherlands

to put pressure on the wanted men.

We tried to make that a hostile area for them,

again to increase their notoriety in those areas,

to prevent movement and to generate intelligence

to support the investigation.

Then, in March 2012, almost a year after their escape,

Tony Downes was finally spotted,

checking into a holiday park in the south of the Netherlands.

There was a piece of intelligence

that a male fitting Downes's description

was in the area of Zeeland,

and the Dutch police took that intelligence, responded to it,

and found Downes.

He was living a very comfortable lifestyle.

He was moving between holiday properties,

he was there with his partner, and I think the fact that he's found

with a loaded firearm in the back of the car,

Dutch authorities said he was reaching towards that firearm

at the time that they took some action against him.

Armed and dangerous, Downes was now off the streets.

By this time, he had already been sentenced

in his absence to life in prison.

As he was extradited back to the UK,

police began looking at whether the information they had found on him

could lead them to Bradley.

We obviously had Downes back,

and also mobile phones gave us opportunities

around identifying numbers for Kirk Bradley also.

I strongly believe that Kirk Bradley will have been well aware

very, very quickly of the arrest of Tony Downes.

I'm surmising, but I would have thought

that would have caused him some concern.

The new information gleaned from his partner in crime's phones

meant that Liverpool gangster Kirk Bradley

was now much more vulnerable.

We knew that we'd got one half of the duo,

but it was really useful as well

because it meant that Bradley would be far more paranoid,

he would be sure that we were looking for him.

It seemed Bradley's options were running out.

After nine months on the run, the net was closing in.

When Bradley and Downes headed for the Netherlands, they weren't alone.

The country and its capital

are popular destinations for British criminals.

As Amsterdam's serious crime team knows all too well.

Amsterdam is a safe haven for criminals.

We need to cooperate with other countries to catch them.

It's a high priority, because those British criminals

also work together with our Dutch criminals.

To tackle the problem,

the Crimestoppers charity and the National Crime Agency

have come to the Netherlands to launch Operation Return.

It's an appeal for information on nine wanted men

on the run from the UK.

We're looking for some really dangerous, nasty individuals,

some significant British criminals who fled from the UK

into the Netherlands, we believe,

thinking that they can evade justice.

At the launch today are some of the key people heading up the hunt

for the wanted men in the Netherlands.

Dave Allen kicks things off.

I personally want to bring these individuals back to the UK so that

they can face justice for the crimes that we believe they've committed.

Oliver Dutilh from the Dutch National Police

has this message to British fugitives.

We want to send out a joint message to the British criminals

hiding in Amsterdam and the Netherlands.

This message is,

Amsterdam and the Netherlands are no safe haven for you.

You can run,

but you can't hide, and in the end, we will hunt you down,

and we'll find you.

Tonight, Operation Return will feature on Opsporing Verzocht,

the Dutch Crimewatch.

Opsporing Verzocht is one of

the longest-running TV shows in the Netherlands.

It's been running for more than 33 years now.

It's been really successful all these years.

In more than 45% of the cases we talk about in the programme,

arrests follow, so it's really effective.

The programme usually covers Dutch crimes,

but today they want help catching British offenders.

Well, it doesn't really matter what the origin

or the country is where criminals come from,

they live here, I can meet them in the streets,

and they're murderers, there is a rapist on the list.

You don't want these people in your vicinity.

So, whether they're British or Dutch, if we can find them,

it's good to report it to the police,

because these are people that...

Justice needs to be served.

Determined to catch the wanted men,

Dave Allen is pulling out all the stops

to make sure his message is heard in the homes of the Dutch public

and expats living in Holland.

He's going to be interviewed on the programme tonight.

It's absolutely vital to appear on things like this.

It puts our campaign, our request

directly into the living rooms of the Dutch and the British people.

It's bringing to their attention the fact that they've got

very dangerous British criminals walking around in the Netherlands,

and we want to remove them.

SHE SPEAKS IN DUTCH

..the FBI, the National Crime Agency.

Mr Allen, good to have you here.

Please explain what makes the Netherlands,

and particularly Amsterdam, so attractive for your criminals?

Thank you for inviting us. British criminals come here, they blend in,

there's lots of British tourists, British expatriates,

and also there's a network of criminality

that helps facilitate their remaining here.

This year's campaign has a new twist.

The faces wanted in the Netherlands

are also being shown in UK towns and cities - for a very good reason.

They might be here, in the Netherlands, they might be in Spain,

they might be in Cyprus, but actually,

people in the UK know where they are,

and it triggers the memory and then that's how we get the calls.

You really hope we can help you find these people real soon.

Absolutely. We look forward to the Dutch people,

British expats ringing in,

helping us to put the final piece in the jigsaw, to find these people

so that we can take them off the streets of the Netherlands,

bring them back home, make them face justice.

We'll try our best.

SHE SPEAKS IN DUTCH

In the Netherlands, the programme is coming to an end.

SHE SPEAKS IN DUTCH

It's time to assess the response.

We got about 16 calls,

which sounds maybe not a lot with more than a million viewers,

but it's quite a lot for such severe cases

and such dangerous criminals.

And I understood that the information in the calls

was really good, objective things, you know -

addresses, places where people might be hiding, so it's something that,

you know, the detectives really can act on.

I think we'll get the message into lots of people's homes,

and what I hope is that we get some information back

and it allows us to find these individuals.

It's after two in the morning,

and West Yorkshire Police officers Dave Lockwood and Tom Allen

haven't been having much luck in their search for fugitives.

Their hunt for a prolific burglar wanted in the Czech Republic

has left them empty-handed.

Now they're trying to find another.

This one, a Polish man wanted for driving while disqualified.

Their search has led them to this street on the other side of Leeds.

Sounds empty.

While Dave heads for the front door,

Tom makes his way round the back to block any exits.

It's the police, open the door!

There's a duvet on the floor.

It looks like they were just sleeping on a rough duvet.

I'm getting a strong smell of cannabis at the front.

As he approaches the door, Dave's suspicions are raised.

Open the door! Or force will be used to gain entry!

This is your last warning.

While Dave shouts through the letterbox,

Tom manages to get into the house through the back door.

Yeah, I thought so.

Dave runs around the back to find a man hiding in the kitchen.

What are you doing?

What are you doing? Put your hands out.

-What have we got, a cannabis grower, Tom?

-Yeah.

-Right.

You're under arrest for cultivating cannabis. OK?

You don't have to say anything,

but it may harm your defence if you don't mention when questioned

something which you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

They may not have found the man they have a warrant for,

but they've uncovered some highly illegal activity.

There's an old adage that you don't know what's behind the door

until you go through it. So officers went in good faith seeking a person

who was wanted, and came across a cannabis farm

being cultivated by people not connected with the wanted person.

We're expecting a 47-year-old Polish male

-wanted for disqualified driving.

-He's not here.

And here we are suddenly dealing with something totally different.

-Is it all clear?

-Yeah.

-I just need to search this lad, if you'll...give us a hand.

-Yeah.

Do you just want to hold his cuffs, and I'll search him?

I wasn't feeling it, and now we've got two detained,

and what size cannabis farm are we looking at?

Two floors, and then the cellar.

-So, right...

-Substantial.

We may have come for one thing, but we got another.

The whole house has been converted

into an illegal cannabis-growing factory.

I'm holding on to that. That's yours.

You've got a full room here, set up with maturing plants.

The bathroom's also sealed off.

That looks like where they've been storing a lot of the chemicals

that they use in the production of cannabis.

Left-hand side as you come up the stairs, again, like downstairs,

it's clearly plants that have been grown and cut for...

And cultivated into actual product to be sold on the street.

And then the right-hand side, again,

a further full set-up of maturing plants.

Criminals associate with other criminals,

so just because you don't find the person you're looking for,

you may well find somebody else

who's wanted for something totally unconnected. Or, like this...

it's just someone totally unrelated, no connection.

Well, on face value, no connection to the male we're looking for.

And they might consider themselves unlucky that we've come here tonight

looking for somebody else, and we've stumbled upon this.

Police officers being police officers,

they deal with what they find.

Hence there were arrests of those who were cultivating the cannabis,

and that evidence was secured.

When that's done, we'll get back to the job in hand,

searching for the person who's wanted.

Though these weren't the fugitives the officers were looking for,

the night has ended with the seizure of 385 cannabis plants

and the arrest of two illegal immigrants.

In Redditch, Worcestershire, for the past few hours,

officers Matt Britton and Jim Alcock

have been hunting for Polish fugitive Karol Michalski.

In their search for the man

who's running from a long prison sentence in Poland,

officers have already visited

an old residential address and a factory.

Now they've been told about another house where he might be,

and are on the way to intercept him before he has a chance to escape.

Upon arrival at the location,

I was in possession of the European Arrest Warrant.

My colleagues were already there.

They'd got to the address a few minutes before

and they'd secured the address for us.

Karol Michalski is believed to be upstairs.

Matt and Jim go to make the arrest.

Karol?

Hello, Karol?

-Right.

-Should have a tattoo of a spider on his neck.

Let's have a look at you a minute.

'He had a tattoo of a spider, I believe it was,

'on the right side of his neck.'

And upon entering his room,

I could see the right side of his neck straight away,

and I thought, "Yes, right, got him, this is our man."

I was immediately sure he was who he was.

Right, Karol...

you are under arrest under the Extradition Act of 2003.

You do not have to say anything.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

Because you're under arrest, mate,

we're going to put the handcuffs on you. OK?

-Not too tight, are they?

-Er, no.

-Right. I'll explain what it's all about in a moment.

-Yeah, OK.

He was over 6ft tall.

He was quite calm.

He could have caused trouble, I'm sure he could have,

hence why the handcuffs went on quite quickly,

so that at least we've got his hands secure.

OK, mate? Right, Karol...

have you got anything on you that you shouldn't have?

-Sorry?

-Do you have anything on you that you shouldn't have?

Anything sharp? Anything that's going to injure me?

No... No, no, I don't have nothing.

-Nothing on you at all?

-I don't know, check.

You're going to be coming to the police station with us.

OK, do you want to take your phone with you?

-Is that your phone?

-..my stuff here.

Yes, your stuff will be left here.

Have you got a key to lock your door?

-Yeah.

-OK, we'll lock your door behind.

I'm sure he probably started to think, "They've forgotten about me."

But at the same time, he said he had expected a knock on the door

at some point.

And I think he seemed to think that he'd probably be going to prison

for a good three, four years when he got back to Poland.

Right, Karol, we're just going to walk you downstairs.

We're going to take you into the police car.

Wanted in Poland...

for drugs, drugs and theft offences.

-All right, then, ready?

-Yeah.

-We're going to walk you out, mate. OK?

-LADDER BANGS

-Oh. Wrecking the place.

-What you done, kid?

-Your car.

-Yeah, yeah.

-This car over here, mate.

-In there.

Stick yourself in there, mate.

In the middle?

Actually, it's quite a feeling of job well done,

quite a bit of satisfaction.

Inside, you're quietly saying, "Yes, got him!"

Tonight, Michalski will be taken to London.

In the morning, Poland's request to extradite the man

with many crimes to answer for

will be heard at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

In July 2011, Kirk Bradley and Tony Downes,

two 26-year-olds who described themselves as "blood brothers",

were on their way to court.

In the previous two years,

the pair were responsible for multiple shootings

and kidnappings across Merseyside.

By being broken out of a prison van,

it showed how willing they were to do anything to escape

and how willing they were to do anything

in order to continue their criminal activities.

So for us, it was a priority to get them back.

After eight months on the run, Downes was caught by Dutch police

as he and his girlfriend checked into this holiday park.

But in Amsterdam, Inspector Remco van Huys

was still searching for his partner in crime, Kirk Bradley.

Information found on Downes' phone helped him narrow the search.

Police also knew that several members of Bradley's family

were living in the city.

Bradley's uncle was already known to the police.

Soon officers picked up on a series of calls he made

to his nephew's number - using an interesting nickname.

They called him by his nickname, which was "Little One".

Which English or British authorities

said might be the nickname of Mr Kirk Bradley,

the one we were looking for.

Remco and his team weren't just looking at the Bradley family,

but also those who worked for them.

And sure enough, a woman who cleaned for the Bradleys

seemed to have a new customer in the south-east of the city.

She became a point of interest for us into the investigation,

and after a few observations, we saw she was also going to this area.

We didn't know exactly which building,

but we knew she was doing something here.

A surveillance team began watching the apartment block

in Bijlmer in south-east Amsterdam.

We made observations around the house, but we didn't see anything.

He was not going out at all.

Officers then identified a driver,

known to work for Bradley's extended family,

making deliveries to the apartment block.

Food was brought to him, so he ordered with this telephone,

via text message, he ordered for a McDonald's or pizza.

And we saw that coming in. But we never saw his face.

Police still needed to be sure that the man hiding out was Kirk Bradley.

Again, it was his phone that provided the evidence,

and pinpointed his exact location.

There was a lot of tension on this investigation,

because the pressure was very high to arrest Kirk Bradley.

It took a long time to find his house,

but as soon as we discovered that the phone was in the house,

it was only a matter of, I think, two days.

Merseyside Police flew to Amsterdam to assist with the arrest.

I briefed the Dutch authorities

regarding the danger that Bradley posed,

the violence that Bradley may offer up.

The blinds of that apartment were all closed and shut up,

which made it a little bit more difficult and intense

when we were at the final stages before going in through the door.

It was about ten o'clock in the night

when our technical department gave us information

that they exactly new where the telephone was,

which together with all the extra pieces of the investigation

was good enough for us to make the arrest.

You can never be certain until you see him there,

you have hands on and he's arrested,

that he's actually going to be there.

At around midnight, the armed police were ready to strike.

The raid team started their raid on the house.

They arrested Mr Bradley, he was sitting on the couch.

It was a great evening,

and I remember that we were cheering when we had him, yes.

And the English colleagues as well, they were very happy.

Officers handcuffed and blindfolded their fugitive

whilst they searched his flat.

When Kirk Bradley was arrested within this apartment in Amsterdam,

he was in possession of a huge amount

of mobile phones and Sim cards.

He had a false passport also, and a significant quantity of money also.

A month later, police returned to the Netherlands

to extradite both Bradley and Downes.

Because of what they'd face trial for,

none of the commercial carriers would take them

and bring them back into the UK.

And therefore we had to hire a private plane

to bring them back into the UK.

We do not want these individuals escaping for a second time.

The men who had dominated gang crime in Liverpool

were taken straight to prison -

already sentenced to a minimum of 22 years each.

This was a gang who ruled through fear and through intimidation,

who exacted extreme levels of violence

with firearms and hand grenades,

and therefore to have them put into jail for a period of 22 years

is a fantastic result.

The cannabis seized in the house in West Yorkshire was calculated

by police to have a street value approaching £500,000.

One of the men was sent to prison for 16 months

for being concerned in the production of a class B drug.

But the second man was released without charge.

The man convicted of multiple thefts and drug supply in Poland,

Karol Michalski, was awarded bail by a judge

at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

He then absconded from his home in Redditch and is again on the run.

And "blood brothers" Kirk Bradley and Anthony Downes

were returned to the UK.

Both had already been sentenced in their absence.

They continue to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.