Scots police have tracked down more than 300 of the world's most wanted criminals in the last two years, it has been revealed.

Officers working with agencies based at the the Scottish Crime Campus in Lanarkshire have caught up with more than 300 fugitives who were either in Scotland and wanted abroad or who had fled justice here.

The individuals included some being returned from Jamaica, Spain, Portugal and Thailand for firearms offences, stalking, sex abuse and murder.

More than 440 organised criminals and three new countries including, Nepal, Germany and Slovenia, have been targeted by Scots police and added to the international crime map since the campus at Gartcosh became operational two years ago.

A total of 22 Scottish-based serious organised crime groups are currently believed to have international reach. Spain continues to be the main source country outwith the UK, with China, the Netherlands and Ireland all featuring in the work of officers at the campus.

Other countries where investigations have focused include: Vietnam, Brazil, Albania, Latvia, Cyprus, Belgium, United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Morocco and Bangladesh.

The criminals and their organisations are involved in drugs, cash, firearms, counterfeit items, new psychoactive substances, vehicles, plant, tobacco, jewellery, people, metals and electronic media.

Fugitives have been brought back to Scotland from Jamaica, Spain, Portugal and Thailand in relation to serious organised crime including a firearms offence, murder, stalking and historic sex abuse. The Fugitive Action Search Team (FAST) has executed 320 warrants for 298 subjects since April 2013 spanning six continents.

Multi-agency investigations led from the hub have spanned the world since February 2014 when the doors opened, marking a significant boost to the fight against crime.

Investment in the £73m site has also added state of the art forensics capacity through a £6m development of a brand new forensics laboratory which now houses DNA 24, the most advanced profiling facility in Europe.

Organisations based at Gartcosh have tackled fugitives, dismantled international commodity networks including drug dealing operations and human trafficking rings.

Police Scotland chief constable Phil Gormley said: "The impact which the Scottish Crime Campus has had in just two short years is truly breathtaking. It has led to a sea-change in how organisations including law enforcement share information and develop opportunities to detect and disrupt criminality.

"Through working more effectively and smarter, through sharing information and intelligence and by linking our resources, if there is a threat posed by criminality connected to any part of the world, we will go and we will seek to nulify it for the benefit of our communities here.

"Moving into Gartcosh wasn’t just about doing the same as we were all doing before in a new building; the aim was to build a new network for tackling crime and establish new ways of doing that. It has been about putting collaboration at the heart of what we do to make communities safer.

"The Scottish Crime Campus epitomises the way we can collectively work to counter the threats presented by serious organised crime, violent criminals and terrorism. I know that the way we work at Gartcosh is looked upon enviously by other parts of law enforcement in the UK and there is considerable international interest in the work of the campus."

Justice secretary Michael Matheson said: "The Scottish Government built the £73m Scottish Crime Campus to encourage better partnership working and reduce the harm caused to our communities by serious organised crime.

"The Campus has boosted our collective capacity to tackle serious organised crime and made Scotland a more hostile environment for those intent on causing misery to our communities.

"Through our Serious Organised Crime Strategy, Scotland’s agencies have successfully disrupted criminal groups at home and mitigated threats from overseas using worldwide networks, international agreements and the state-of-the-art technology at the crime campus."

Immigration minister James Brokenshire said: "We are cracking down on the organised criminal groups who try to abuse our immigration system and border controls. The Scottish Crime Campus is an excellent example of how we are committed to working closely with partner law enforcement agencies to keep our borders secure and stamp out immigration criminality."

David Odd, assistant director of HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service, said: "The last two years have seen important changes in the way we work with our partners to tackle serious and organised crime.

"Through this collaboration we have shared resources, tactics and information with great success from the outset. Undoubtedly, this has helped us by bringing extra strength to bear on the people who were profiting from criminality, and helped us in our efforts to systematically dismantle organised crime groups from all angles."