Officers seize drugs and guns during London-wide day of action
Police have seized guns and drugs after raiding a string of addresses across London including homes in Brent as part of a Met’s clampdown on suspect criminal gangs.
More than 50 addresses were stormed by officers from Trident Gang Crime, supported by the Met’s Territorial Support Group (TSG) and SCO19 Specialist Firearms unit Command, in the early hours of this morning.
A woman and nine men, age between 19 and 44, have been arrested so far and officers have uncovered a sawn-off shot gun, ammunition, a large quantity of cannabis and various quantities of class A drugs (including heroin and cocaine).
Brent and the other 19 boroughs in today’s action have been identified nationally by the Home Office as Ending Gang Youth Violence (EGYV) boroughs - a scheme to combat youth crime and violence.
Detective Chief Superintendent Dean Haydon, Head of Trident Gang Crime Command, said: “Historically Trident focused primarily on gun crime and homicide within the black community and the recent loss of our murder investigation capability has led to many communities and in particular gang members to wrongly believe that Trident has disbanded. “This is not the case; a large part of Trident’s work is around the prevention of shootings and disrupting gang members’ criminal activity.
“Our sustained activity has resulted in significant reductions of all gang-related crime types. Our remit may have changed but our ethos has not. We are still here, still targeting violent gang members, and for those involved who seek a better life, a life away from gangs - through our partners, community and voluntary groups we will seek to help them into education, employment and a more positive life path.”
Local officers, including those from Safer Neighbourhoods Teams, will be carrying out additional patrols in their wards during the day and speaking with local residents and businesses about today’s operation.
Searches continue and police expect to make further arrests.
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