Swinney 'open' to crackdown on organised crime gangs amid spiralling levels of violence
John Swinney has insisted he is 'open' to tougher action to tackle gangland criminals after he was accused of 'dangerous complacency' on the issue.
The First Minister pledged to consider any proposals to strengthen legislation to tackle criminal gangs in the wake of Scots Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr being gunned down in a pub in Spain.
His comments came after Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay condemned the 'dangerous complacency' of SNP ministers on organised crime for failing to tackle the problem. He demanded that proceeds of crime laws are tightened to 'turn the tables' on the gangs.
Mr Swinney said: 'I am open to making sure that we have got the correct legislative framework in place to deal with criminality in our country. That's why the Government brings forward legislation.
'Mr Findlay is making suggestions about an area of policy that could be considered for strengthening. I am perfectly willing to consider that, because I don't want anybody to benefit from criminal activity in our society, and I want people to be punished accordingly.
'The Government will always keep legislation under review, but it has to be acknowledged that we have in our criminal justice authorities, the police and the Crown Office have been successful in apprehending, imprisoning, interrupting and disrupting organised crime in this country, and I give the public the assurance that, under my Government's leadership, that will be sustained in the years to come.'
The fatal shooting of Monaghan and Lyons Jnr in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol prompted speculation that the killings were linked a gangland feud playing out in the central belt since March.
Mr Findlay, a former journalist who had acid thrown in his face by a hired hitman carrying a knife when he answered his door in Glasgow in 2015, raised the issue of gangland violence at First Minister's Questions yesterday.
He said: 'These parasites grow rich by preying on society's most vulnerable.. These cowards cause terror and death with guns, knives and firebombs. These thugs go after journalists, politicians, businessmen, police and prison officers.
'Organised crime is out of control and communities are living in fear. Does John Swinney accept that the Scottish Parliament has failed to tackle organised crime in Scotland?'
Mr Swinney said he agreed that organised crime is 'intolerable' and unacceptable, requires the forensic attention of police and criminal justice authorities, but said he didn't agree that Holyrood has failed to tackle organised crime.
Mr Findlay said organised crime is 'rarely on the agenda' under successive SNP and Labour administrations and wasn't even mention in the Scottish Government's five-year justice strategy.
He said: 'I got into politics because I couldn't understand why politicians don't talk about its malevolent reach and devastating harm.'
He said frontline officers believe the decision to reduce police numbers 'inevitably fuels organised crime'.
Mr Findlay said there is 'a dangerous complacency to this Government's approach' to organised crime and that under-25 sentencing guidelines 'are part of the problem'.
On the shootings in Spain, Mr Swinney said: 'These are live police investigations, so I am not able to comment on these particular issues, they are being pursued by the Spanish authorities.
'But what I do say to parliament is that any individual involved in criminal activity, no matter their age, must be aware of the severity of the punishments that exist. That is the right position for people to hear from this parliament.'
Mr Findlay said criminals and their enablers 'no longer fear the proceeds of crime' and demanded an 'urgent and radical overhaul'.
He said: 'According to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, one drug dealer made more than £126 million, but they can find only £118,000-worth of his assets.
'Proceeds of crime needs an urgent and radical overhaul. We must turn the tables on the drugs gangs so that they live in fear.'
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