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Lithuanian police attaché in the UK, Linas Pernavas, posted about them on his Facebook account:
“To this day, half of the most wanted people in the TOP 10 list have been arrested! At the beginning of the year, my colleagues in Lithuania compiled a list of the 10 most wanted Lithuanian police officers in the UK (those who According to our information, they are likely to be hiding in this country.) Since then, we have collected a lot of information, analyzed situations, organized meetings, ambushes, etc. Today we have the result: 5 wanted people have been found and arrested! “
The news portal tv3.lt spoke with L. Pernavas about the arrests of Lithuanian criminals in the UK.
PHOTO GALLERY. Moments in the life of L. Pernavas
Why did you come up with the idea to collect the TOP 10 of the most wanted Lithuanians who can hide in the UK?
One of my tasks in the UK is to work on investigations, specific cases. One of the directions is the search for people who are hiding for the crimes they have committed or who are avoiding the penalty already imposed. In communication with Lithuanian and British officials, the idea of looking at everything from the other side came up.
The wanted list is long, so we find ourselves in a situation where everyone is looking for everyone and then often something goes wrong. So we decided to make a TOP 10 list of the most wanted Lithuanians, who are most likely to be hiding in the UK.
At the beginning of the year, we selected the relatively most dangerous people. So many long-distance, live meetings with British officials began. It was not enough to have a list, we also needed forces that could set up ambushes, arrest people, gather information.
We found the right officers and then an official meeting was held between UK and Lithuanian police officers. We agree that there is such a list that I will be the contact person. We started doing this work at the beginning of the year.
Half a year has passed and I recently received a report about the fifth detainee in the top ten. It was a new idea, so we did not know how to succeed. But we have the result and we can say that the idea has paid off. Stopping 5 people in a short time is a good result.
What crimes were arrested?
Without mentioning the last names, I can say that some of them have been searched since 2014-2015. One of the individuals went into hiding for six years of the 6-year, 6-month prison sentence. He was convicted of disorderly conduct, personal injury.
Another detainee had committed up to 6 crimes. This includes drug distribution, health disorders, and manslaughter. Another person from 2019 was wanted for possession of large amounts of drugs for distribution. He has already been sentenced to 13 years in prison and the man has been recognized as a special repeat offender.
He’s also been behind bars since 2014. Wanted person. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison for use of a firearm and personal injury. Wanted for another person since 2020. due to fraud. Fraudulently acquired high-value foreign properties. All the crimes of these people were committed on the territory of Lithuania.
These successful operations work preemptively, which is cheaper than the pre-trial investigation and works with the consequences. The more people see that there is no way to hide and avoid criminal responsibility, the less they will commit crimes.
Fugitive criminals will find that they must always look over their shoulders. It is only a matter of time before you have to answer for what you have done. His arrest is subject to a court order for preventive detention. Issues relating to extradition are addressed below.
What can you say about the people who have not yet been detained from the list?
We do not want the rest of the list to be made public so as not to jeopardize the investigation that is being carried out. If criminals knew that they were now in the top 5 most wanted, they would do anything to escape arrest.
You have publicly mentioned that Lithuanians living in the UK contributed to the arrest of two people. What help do your compatriots receive?
The Lithuanian community in the UK is probably the largest compared to other countries. Some estimate that 200,000 people live here. Lithuanian. So one of my tasks when I came here was to establish close relationships with the Lithuanian community. There were meetings, I attended events. Of course, the coronavirus situation made things worse.
I can confirm that the two most wanted people on the list received information from the community. For one of them, everything was so decided that even the British marveled and emphasized precision. I’ll tell you visually that the arrest was like going to the store and picking up the item. We had information on that person’s employer, himself. We knew how and when he was going to work.
Tell us more about the detention operations carried out and the preparations for them. How much did Lithuanian officials contribute to this?
It all started with the idea itself. We talk a lot about reorganizing work. Then began the collection and exchange of information between Lithuanian and British officials. Lithuanian officials collected information about a person’s home, relatives and workplace. Efforts were made to find out about the possession of a weapon, the possibility of resistance.
Only British police officers who work in special units and who are specially trained for this type of task have participated in the arrests. If we knew that a person could have a weapon, additional special forces were used. Everything was done professionally. Neither bystanders nor officials were injured during the arrests.
I can say that the detention phase is like “razinka” on the cake. But until then, there is a careful and responsible preparation phase that takes time. We searched for some people for many years, but the results showed that anything was possible.
I would like to thank the Lithuanian and British officials for their work. I myself was like a coordinator. The contribution of officials from both countries was infinitely large and important. We have established good relationships, so work tasks are solved much more efficiently.
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