It’s a strange story to start with. I’d just finished a meeting with a high level figure in UK politics, and gone to get a coffee. In the closing moments of the engagement, she said a person of concern had been raised in a different meeting. I was supposed to be careful of him, because his targets were mainly journalists or researchers of my kind.
At the coffee shop, I saw this man. He was waiting to collect his drink at the counter, in a nonchalant sort of way. It was the first I learned of bad people or hardened criminals being so easy, or so casual. In public, I felt they would be abrasive and jump out of a van to catch me. I didn’t think it’s as simple as meeting him in a coffee shop on a break.
I struck up a conversation, and I had a few extended discussions with him about his life. During these, he made varying claims about who he was. I listened out, however, for his reason for being in London. At the time, it was of interest why people were in the city. It was a sort of side-project to see what made urban places safe or unsafe.
It turned out he was a criminal of some standing, albeit not as high as he’d liked. I coined a nickname for him, “Baghdad”, because the tumult in the Middle East was still fresh in both our memories. It was a simple way to hold a conversation, and share a few disagreements over a drink. He liked to have brainteasers to think about as well, he’d say.
I discovered by what he shared he was in “the West” to organise a “scheme” regarding the football industry. His plan had been to get “people into the football industry”, such as young workers, by placing them in stadiums, clubs, and factories in Europe, including here. He could make a profit out of it with his corrupt associates.
He claimed he liked to do it as “it keeps me sharp, intelligent – like Prince Charles”. It turned out he knew a lot about trafficking as well, and had researched inside its murky depths. He even once said, “I’m the strong arm of trafficking”, meaning he knew all about it. He boasted that he knew how it all worked, even to the slightest detail.