BOUNTY DROPPED FOR BROS IN BRAZIL
£10k reward off table as sources say drug and gun running suspects were executed by South American gangsters
the £10,000 reward for the arrest of Scotland’s most wanted men has been dropped after they were posted missing, presumed dead.
Charity Crimestoppers put up the bounty for the capture of alleged kingpins James and Barry Gillespie – dubbed The Pablo Escobar Brothers.
They are wanted as part of a global probe into money laundering, drug dealing and gun trafficking.
Last year we revealed the Gillespies, of Rutherglen, near Glasgow, had allegedly been executed in Brazil following a fall-out with gangsters in the coastal city of Fortaleza.
Crimestoppers has now revealed the rewards – £5000 for each brother – are no longer on offer.
A spokesman said they are scrapped “unless renewed at the request of the investigating police force”.
The brothers are also wanted over an attempted murder and fled abroad as law enforcement closed in on them.
They bunkered down in a Brazilian bolthole amid claims they ran a multi-million pound organised crime empire which flooded Scotland with drugs and guns. But underworld sources claim a feud with Brazilian gangsters over protection money led to their deaths.
Their families were told by Police Scotland last year that officers believed the pair “may have come to harm”.
A year on from the news they were missing presumed dead, their families and police officers are still searching for answers on exactly what happened.
Police Scotland insists officers are still trying hard to track them down and anyone with information must come forward.
The Gillespies headed an encrypted mobile phone company.
Their expertise allowed them to go completely undetected while having regular contact with friends and family.
But all contact ceased amid the claims they had been murdered in Brazil.
An insider said: “There hasn’t been a peep in the last year.
“Even when they were on the run, they used their technological know-how to make sure their loved ones also knew how they were.
“Understandably, their families fear the worst. They’re trying to be as positive as possible, especially as there’s kids involved, but it gets tougher every day.
“It’s even tougher now because everyone is looking forward to Christmas and spending time with their families but they’re still searching for answers.
“Police believing they’d come to harm raised more questions than answers. Never getting a definitive answer on exactly what happened is killing the family.
“The cops are also desperate to definitely solve it. Not just because they’re Scotland’s most wanted men and are accused of serious organised crime offences.
“A police officer’s job is also about protecting the public and preventing further crime. They also need to know exactly what happened so they know how it will affect Scotland.
“There’s always a worry that tensions could flare between associates of the brothers and hoods linked to the Brazilians on this side of the Atlantic, whether in Scotland or elsewhere in Europe.”
Police revealed they have links to Spain, Tenerife and Portugal and they were linked to the biggest ever cocaine haul recovered by French police.
In 2009, a £31million consignment of the class A drug was found in the back of a truck registered to a Scots haulage firm.
Scottish cops are keen to speak to the brothers over the attempted murder of Robert Allan, who was tortured for two days in 2015.
His tormentors broke his leg, shot him twice in one knee and once in the other, then rolled him naked down a hill after dousing him in bleach.
Insiders claim they headed a gang which saw nine members jailed in 2018, for a total of 87 years, over dirty money, firearms and drug offences.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Extensive inquiries to trace both men are continuing and anyone with information about their whereabouts should contact police.”