TO PASSERS-BY, it was an ordinary shopfront in an unremarkable part of Glasgow. Aside from a lucrative niche turning out menus for Asian takeaways, Print Link did little to draw attention to itself.
But now the premises have emerged as the base of one of the most sophisticated counterfeiting operations ever seen in Britain, producing fake banknotes that were found across the country. The operation was so big that the High Court heard the forgers had the ability to destabilise the British economy as part of a network linked with criminals across the UK.
The operation was described by police as "big as it comes". They said the expertise exhibited was "very sophisticated".
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Yesterday, the gang's mastermind - a man who police said was one of only two capable of executing such a plot - was jailed for more than six years. Ironically, Thomas "Hologram Tam" McAnea - who began his career printing menus and tickets - and his cohorts were in part caught because of their reputations as brilliant forgers.
If Hologram Tam was indeed a criminal mastermind, why was he working in Maryhill, churning out menus for Asian takeaways, rather than pursuing his chosen career in London or Frankfurt or New York? And how did the criminal mastermind get himself caught at least twice before by the Scottish police? How, having 'taken to drink', did he remain a 'brilliant forger'? And is £1.6 million in notes really enough to destabilise the British economy?
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