Police raid homes of 20 'crack dealers'

officers smash their way into a flat

More than 100 officers carried out the early morning raids following a six-month covert operation to gather evidence.

The gang is suspected of moving to Edinburgh from Birmingham and the English Midlands, and basing itself across Leith in an effort to get a foothold in the drugs market.

Some of the alleged dealers are from Jamaica, and the UK Border Agency was also involved in today's blitz to help round up suspected illegal immigrants.

Yardie dealers have been selling crack cocaine from public places in Leith, including play parks, as well as from their own homes, and have been trying to hook existing heroin addicts and other drug users on crack as part of a push to create a bigger market in the highly addictive substance.

Detectives believe the gang intended to build up the lucrative trade locally before attempting to spread their influence across the city.

The presence of street prostitutes in Leith is believed to be another factor behind the gang's decision to base itself in the area.

Six addresses were raided this morning as part of Operation Advance. A convoy of police vehicles swept out of Fettes HQ shortly after 6am. One of the police vans arrived round the corner from a tenement flat in Iona Street at 6.30am. A team of officers broke down the door of a second-floor flat using a hydraulic battering ram. Inside they found four men. An hour later, after a search of the flat for drugs, cash and weapons, the four men were led out to waiting vans in handcuffs.

Chief Superintendent Gill Imery, Edinburgh's division commander, said: "There has been a growing awareness during the last year about an increase in the supply of crack cocaine in Edinburgh.

"One of our main motives for today's operation has been to take swift action to make sure these people don't get a foothold established here.

"We've been gathering intelligence over a long period about what has been happening in Leith and collecting evidence against them so we could carry out these raids. Today has been the enforcement phase where we've executed the warrants against them following six months of intensive work."

Yardie gangs are known to control much of the supply in crack in the UK, often using firearms and high levels of violence to dominate the market.

Although detectives targeting the Edinburgh gang have not come across evidence that they have access to firearms, police chiefs are aware of the threat they pose.

Chief Supt Imery added: "We want to show those involved with the drugs trade that Edinburgh is not a place to come. It's understandable why Edinburgh may be attractive to drug dealers involved with supplying crack cocaine. Historically, we've not seen large seizures in Edinburgh and that would indicate there's not a readily available supply for potential users.

Chief Supt Imery said: "They have been dealing the drugs from both homes and public places in Leith. That has meant they have been visible to members of the community. We've hoped that the community could be patient while we spent this long period gathering the necessary evidence against them. They seek to exploit the most vulnerable members of society to sell crack cocaine, including existing drug users or people in the sex trade.

"If they had been allowed to gain that foothold, we believe they would've tried to spread out further across the city."

Jamaican Yardies have tried unsuccessfully in the past to gain a prominent place in the Capital's drugs market.

The one high-profile attempt by a Yardie gang to infiltrate Edinburgh resulted in a court case two years ago where members of a Wolverhampton gang were jailed. Their leader, Andrew Morrison, was jailed for nine years, while two others were sentenced to six years each.

SEIZURES OF DRUG SOAR

THE amount of crack cocaine seized by police in Edinburgh has soared in recent years.

Figures released by police today showed that 3.2 kilos of crack was recovered between April last year and March.

The figure compares with only 109 grammes seized in 2008/9 and just 93 grammes in 2007/8.

Most of last year's crack seizures came from a raid against Mark Richardson, one of the Capital's biggest drug dealers, who was jailed for ten years last month.

The 23-year-old leader of an Inch-based gang was caught red-handed by officers in a makeshift "crack factory" in a Ferniehill flat as he processed 3.5kg of cocaine, worth 700,000, into crack.

It was the largest seizure of crack cocaine in the Lothian and Borders Police area, and one of the biggest recoveries of the Class A drug in Scotland.

Richardson's gang was placed under a massive police surveillance operation lasting 18 months, which has so far brought 66 arrests and seizures of heroin, cocaine and crack worth 2 million.