A GANGSTER who fled Scotland for Thailand to escape the ongoing turf war carnage was tracked down and savagely attacked, it’s been claimed.
A horrifying image has emerged of the man’s right cheek hanging open after a blade was swiped across his face in one the latest examples of ruthless mob violence.
Sources say he was tracked down in the South East Asian country by crimelords whose sinister reach spans the planet.
The slashing is the latest in a wave of crimes captured on camera by hoods said to be involved in the attacks on caged drugs kingpin Mark Richardson – with orders coming from fugitive mob bosses based in the UAE.
An insider revealed: “He is one of Richardson’s associates and he left the country to get out of the way until the dust settles.
“But this mob managed to find him and left him scarred for life after a guy slashed him across the face with a blade on Sunday.
“They will stop at nothing to get the message across to Richardson and his crew that nobody is safe.”
We were first to reveal Richardson, 37, had been shipped out of Glenochil as the gang war erupted.
Mobsters are orchestrating a “full-scale takeover” of his criminal empire – with a house torched on Sunday one of many blows against the caged hood.
The brazen firebomb attack saw a masked thug launch a Molotov cocktail through the window of a family home in the rapidly escalating turf war.
An accomplice captured on video the moment the maniac strode up to the pad in Niddrie, Edinburgh, before hurling the flaming petrol bomb into it.
It is the latest terrifying twist in a weeks-long campaign of violence carried out by footsoldiers who are said to be acting under orders from Dubai-based mobsters.
Police Scotland are said to have given Richardson associates Osman warnings – intelligence-led alerts that their lives could be in danger. The mob chief was caged for nearly nine years in 2018 for having a gun as part of a crime supergang.
Another 18 months was later added to his prison time over a high-speed car chase with cops.
Cops have been poring over CCTV footage linked to the chaos and have been carrying out road and vehicle checks across the city.
Superintendent Paul Gillespie said: “We are taking strong action to disrupt this criminal activity. A lot of work, which may not always be visible, is ongoing.
“Additional officers are currently deployed to specifically target criminals and disrupt their activities.”
The spate of violence has sparked concern from politicians, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay, a former crime journalist, said: “For the sake of all decent people, these parasitical drug gangs and their white-collar enablers must be subject to the full weight of the police and courts.”
