Purge on taxi trade gangsters
JUSTICE Secretary Kenny MacAskill yesterday unveiled a crackdown on gangsters who muscle in on the taxi trade.
Police believe at least 15 Scottish taxi firms are used as a cover for drug trafficking, prostitution and money-laundering.
The SNP minister said the Government would not allow “hard-working cabbies” to be “driven off the road by crooks and gangsters”.
New legislation will see taxi booking offices having to obtain licences. Police checks are also being introduced.
Mr MacAskill said: “Tackling organised crime is one of the Scottish Government’s top priorities.
“Where it infiltrates legitimate business, like the taxi and private hire trade, we are determined to take action.”
In March detectives reported that 20 per cent of the private hire firms in Strathclyde were “linked with general criminal activity”.