04-08-2025
Edinburgh gang leader warns Dubai-based kingpin 'we'll take you out in the desert'
Edinburgh drugs kingpin Ross McGill, now based in Dubai, has been warned by his enemies that he'll be taken out in the desert.
The threat was allegedly made by rival mob bosses Mark Richardson and the Daniel crime clan, reports the Daily Record. They're said to have demanded McGill, 32, comes back to Scotland to face them - or he'll be 'targeted' in the United Arab Emirates.
In a message posted online they said: "It will have to be the desert in Dubai.
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"Come home. Finish what you started. No more hide and seek."
Other posts have branded McGill a "rat" and a "p***y". The feud started after an associate of -Richardson, 38, ripped off McGill for £500,000 in a drug deal.
McGill's Tamo Junto gang then waged war on the caged crime boss and the Daniels. Cops have so far made 55 arrests in connection with the feud as part of Operation Portelage.
It's seen claims McGill has run out of foot soldiers and is lying low. A source said: "McGill has been splashing the cash getting a bunch of young laddies to carry out his attacks and record it on their phones.
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"All while he hides out in Dubai and then leaks the footage. Anyone with a bit of cash can do what he's done. It's time for him to be a man and front up. The net is closing in on him."
It was reported last month McGill was confronted by another gangster at a gym in Dubai over the heat he has brought. Stephen "Jimmy" Jamieson is understood to have clashed with McGill during the bust-up.
The most recent arrest linked to the gang war was on July 18, when a man was collared and charged in connection with wilful fireraising and firearms offences.
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Jordan Steele, 38, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on July 21 in connection with the alleged firebombing of the Belle Cheveux beauty salon in the city's Leith on March 6. Steele was charged with firearms offences, including possessing a firearm without authorisation.
He made no plea and was granted bail. A 26-year-old man was also arrested in connection with alleged damage at a property on Walter Scott Avenue in Edinburgh on June 12 and an alleged wilful fireraising at a property on Jackson Way in Tranent, East Lothian, the next day.
Another 26-year-old man was charged in connection with two alleged vehicle fires in nearby Port Seton on May 18. Numerous firebombings and violent attacks have been carried out in Edinburgh and Glasgow since the feud erupted in March.