Why Would a Russian Spy Want to Live in Grays?
You can actually learn a lot from Thurrock. Who knew?
Rarely does a town’s name capture its atmosphere so poignantly. In southeast Essex on the Thames Estuary, Grays has developed a bad reputation over the past few decades.
In 1866, Grays had more pubs than any other English town. There were lavish hotels and department stores, trendy shops and markets, top rated private schools and even manors for the upper class. Until the end of the twentieth century, it was still white middle class suburbia, even posh in parts.
Today, post industrial Essex is suffering from an identity crisis. People know the town I grew up in as ‘near Lakeside’ (shopping centre) and a place full of Reform voters who enjoy partaking in coke sniffing contests. Those who leave never return. Even Russell Brand’s mother left, in his word’s, because there’s just nothing left for anybody. It’s a story well known by now; one where the high streets were killed, jobs taken by machines or outsourced overseas.
When I recently opened a BBC article on three arrested Russian spies, Grays was the last place I expected them to be. Surely they weren’t there for Lakeside and the gollywog collection at the White Hart pub? (Really, that’s a thing.)
For the uninformed reader, a 41-year-old man, a 35-year-old woman and another 46-year-old man were recently arrested in Grays on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, contrary to Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023. The Met said the allegations relate to Russia.
What about grotty Grays, or Costa del Grays, could possibly be of interest to officials in Lubyanka and the Kremlin? Plenty, actually.
Before I continue, I should stress this is an ongoing investigation and the suspects were released on bail. I shall therefore talk about this topic in very general, abstract and academic terms, not about the investigation itself or those involved.
Let’s start with some basic facts and demography. Thurrock (Grays’ borough) is home to two ports: Tilbury and the London Gateway, which handles the largest container ships in the world, with a capacity of 3.5 million containers. Ships at both go all over the world, including to Russia’s allies.
Thurrock is also a major logistic hub, with boats, cruise ships, lorries, vans, cars and trains passing through constantly. Oil refineries, power stations, warehouses, service industries, the Eurostar, suburban rail and a river into London, not to mention the M25, all put Thurrock at the heart of Britain’s economy in ways that locals often don’t appreciate.
Logistics hubs and ports are great places for intelligence gathering due to the sheer number of people, vehicles and goods passing through at any given time. There’s plenty to snoop on, and it’s easy enough not to be noticed. Meetings at petrol stations, laybys and garages go completely unnoticed. Handovers happen without drivers and couriers being aware of what's in the back, what it’s for, where it’s going or why.
But Russia is currently under sanctions, meaning its ships carrying goods, oil and gas can’t dock in Britain or enter its waters. Therefore, it relies on a vast shadow fleet, sailing under different flags, insurance companies and other guises. Some of which probably end up in Thurrock’s ports. If not directly connected to Russia, they may be part of a chain linking back here.
A Grays spy might want to ensure that the alternative routes are working properly and to keep an eye on things that end. Any issues that may arise can then be dealt with. It’s also not at all impossible that some carry Russian intelligence personnel, or proxies. Who would know anyway?
Then comes the different companies working in Tilbury and Corringham, be it chemicals, paper, container services, engineering, supermarkets or tour operators. Spies can build up a picture of how the area operates, what these companies are up to and report back to the powers that be. There might be something of interest beyond safeguarding Russian goods entering the British market. Either way, policy makers in Moscow can then invent better ways to navigate and avoid sanctions and gain a better understanding of the British market and its distribution networks.
Next is the vast network of criminal gangs known to operate in the Thurrock area. They can be involved in anything from people and drug smuggling, to selling knock off tights and American candy. Their networks don’t just operate all over the UK and Ireland, but across Europe too. We saw this a few years ago, when Vietnamese migrants died in the back of a lorry in Thurrock.
Spying on these gangs has several uses. Their criminal members might be people of interest. They might have connections to other gangs Moscow is watching. Infiltrating these gangs also allows Moscow to spy on the countries they work in, allowing for back door espionage.
Occasionally, dirty work can be outsourced to criminals and gangs for the right price, too. MI5 certainly seems to think Moscow is increasingly turning to proxies for this and private intelligence collecting. Smuggling in spies and equipment, going after targets, illegal trading, getting inside company buildings – whatever it may be – criminal proxies give Moscow plausible deniability and none of the risk.
Grays and Thurrock also have another advantage: they are hiding in plain sight. On London’s doorstep, Grays is a sleepy town with little to write home about. It’s both on and off the radar, easy to get to and from anywhere else in the UK and ideal to lay low. It also has a large Eastern European workforce, many of whom speak Russian as a first or second language. Blending in is much easier and enables them to spy on migrants from other countries Russia has an interest in.
A final point would be the recent rise of Reform UK and their popularity in Thurrock (who gave it one of their five MPs – he has since resigned the party whip). Many of Reform’s supporters are prone to mis- and disinformation online. Some of that undoubtedly comes from Russian bots. Thurrock locals are an ideal testing ground and case study if one ever wishes to sow chaos in Britain. If you don’t believe me, just go down the Treacle Mine and Theobald Arms and start talking. If you haven’t got time, the Stanford-Le-Hope Facebook page will do.
Of course, Russia might not actually care much about any of this. Sometimes these things can be purely coincidental. I doubt Netflix will be making a spy drama set on Orsett Road, either. But there is a lot happening in Thurrock of potential interest to any one of the world’s security services. It’s really quite flattering.