Prison officer's car firebombed outside Scots jail in suspected 'organised crime' attack

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A prison officer's car has been firebombed outside of a Scots prison in another attack on staff suspected to be carried out by organised criminals.In the latest incident, a staff member's car was firebombed outside Saughton Prison in Edinburgh on September 7.

Emergency services attended and thankfully no one was injured, Edinburgh Live reports.But a union was warned that it's the latest attack in a growing number of incidents against prison officers.The incident follows at least 10 similar fires including recent attacks outside HMP Addiewell in West Lothian and HMP Perth, as reported by the Record.Phil Fairlie, deputy general secretary of the Scottish Prison Officers Association, believes the attacks have been carried out by organised crime gangs.A number of police investigations are also ongoing into threats made to prison officers.Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland radio programme, Fairlie said: "The level of threat and intimidation that staff are facing is the worst I think I've seen in the 30 odd years I've been involved in prisons."Across the Scottish prison estate there has been a huge increase in both Scots and international organised crime groups.Scottish Prison Service (SPS) intelligence reports have identified 538 individuals linked to serious and organised crime, which is around eight per cent of the total prison population.Of those, 176 have been linked to 54 different serious and organised crime groups, many of whom operate throughout the UK and some globally.The figure includes 23 "principals" who either lead the crime gangs or operate at the highest level.Fairlie continued: "The prison population that we hold at the moment is an incredibly challenging mix of prisoners."There is a huge amount of