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Barra fishermen plead guilty to 'black fish” fraud 8/1/12
Two Barra fishermen have been convicted of participating in a massive £8 million “black fish” fraud.
At the High Court in Edinburgh John Macleod, 56, and Michael Macleod, 33, both admitted their part in extensively illegally landing fish at Peterhead over a three year period.
The Macleods whose address was given as 32 Eoligarry, Barra, admitted breaking strict European quota rules by secretly landing catches of mackerel and herring between 2002 and 2005.
John Macleod is claimed to have benefited by nearly £1.16 million after making 43 fraudulent landings while skipper of two Castlebay registered trawlers, the Charisma CY88 and the Prowess CY720.
While skipper of the Charisma, Michael Macleod illegally landed nearly £908,000 worth of fish over 34 trips.
At Friday’s court hearing, James Duthie, 54, of Fraserburgh, and Ian Buchan, 54, of Peterhead, also admitted being involved in the illicit scam.
Duthie, gained by £1.9 million in the 56 landings made by his vessel, the Sunbeam. Buchan, the master of the Quantas, who has previous convictions for similar offences, made almost £4.5 million.
They accepted falsifying records and avoided declaring the true amount of fish landed ashore.
The scam worked by pumping the fish from the boat’s hold through a secret pipe line in the processing factory. A set of levers and valves diverted the unlawful landings away from the official weighing machine which logged the legal catches.
The unlawful fish were hidden from inspectors while warnings signs posted around portacabin control room falsely indicated it housed hazardous high voltage electrical equipment.
The four men will be sentenced on March 23rd. In addition to an expected substantial fine, the crown is seeking to confiscate the skippers’ profits from the “black landings.”