SIX people linked to gang fights shown on the internet were targeted by police today during dawn raids in Glasgow.
Watch footage from the raids here
SIX people linked to gang fights shown on the internet were targeted by police today during dawn raids in Glasgow.
Police used battering rams and crowbars to force their way into one block of flats where a suspected gang member was believed to be living.
Officers went after the gangs as part of a massive operation striking at the heart of organised crime, drug dealing and violent offenders in Glasgow's East End and in the north of the city.
There were a total of 30 raids - 21 on gang members and nine targeting drug dealers - involving 700 officers.
The raids on the gangs came after violent images on social networking sites such as Bebo and YouTube were discovered by officers from Strathclyde Police's gang task force.
They showed youths involved in fights in the East End's Tollcross, Parkhead and Carntyne over recent months.
The six simultaneous raids on gang members were launched at 7am, with another 15 homes targeted later.
The Evening Times was today given exclusive access to one of the raids, at flats in Summerston in the north of the city.
Armed with battering rams and crowbars, specialist officers broke into a first-floor flat and detained the occupants while a search was carried out.
Three people were held in nine other raids carried out across the north and east of the city as part of the wider Operation Fleet, targeting drug dealers. At around 9am, two women were detained at East End homes while one man was led from a garage in Baltic Street, also in the East End.
Superintendent Bob Hamilton, head of the gang taskforce, said: "We have officers continually trawling images on social networking sites and images of several gang fights have been posted in recent months.
"Some of the individuals have also posted images of weapons, which makes them a target for other gangs.
"Gang behaviour is unacceptable and today strong messages have been sent out that this must be stopped.
"While this may have taken months to come to fruition today, the public should be aware we will go after suspected offenders and they will be arrested."
Early-morning drugs raids were carried out by teams involved in Operation Fleet.
It's the first time this initiative has been carried out in this area of Glasgow, which includes Saracen, Maryhill, London Road, and Shettleston.
The US-style lockdowns' have been held in other areas over the past few months, which has led to hundreds of arrests.
Det Supt Alan Buchanan led the teams targeting suspected drug dealers.
He said: "Today is about tackling organised crime and violent offenders.
"Seven homes and two business premises were targeted after months of intelligence which has been brought together on the day of Operation Fleet.
"Houses have been searched for drugs and weapons, and we are targeting disorder, street gangs, as well as having a huge policing presence in areas we want to tackle.
"The message we're sending out today is that these types of behaviour will not be tolerated."
For the first time in Operation Fleet, the marine policing unit was also involved.
Officers from the unit were patrolling hotspots along the canal-side, where there have been reports of anti-social behaviour over the past few months.
Officers were also joined by Glasgow Community Safety Services to allow teams to search in hazardous areas.
Every possible resource was thrown at today's event, including officers from the traffic division.
They were patrolling streets in a vehicle with an onboard computer called ANPR - automatic number plate recognition - which flags up cars whose drivers have broken the law.
Criminals aim to go nationwide
THE UK's biggest single crackdown on rogue security companies has been staged amid evidence that private, Glasgow-based firms with links to criminality are spreading their base of operations throughout Scotland.
The Security Industry Authority, along with Strathclyde and Lothian and Borders police forces, have raided 140 sites across the central belt, arresting or reporting dozens of guards.
The operation this week, which included swoops on the sites of high-profile, publicly funded work on the M74 extension and Commonwealth Games sites, will give both the police and the SIA a wealth of evidence to use in targeting firms that are controlled by major gangland figures.
Almost 50 offences, including suspected immigration crimes and benefit fraud, were uncovered.
The crackdown comes amid calls for a tightening of the Security Industry Act in Scotland to relieve frontline contractors of the burden of dealing with security firms on big public projects by putting the vetting process into the hands of third parties.
As part of Operation Raptor, Strathclyde officers and their partners checked 75 construction sites and 90 guards across the force area. Eleven people were reported by police for offences under the Private Security Industry Act 2001, six for immigration offences and 15 for "benefit irregularities".
Detective Inspector Calum Young, of Maryhill CID, said: "The sole purpose of this and the operations that will follow is to target those individuals and companies that continue to act outside the law."
A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said: "There is intelligence to suggest some private security firms have links to serious and organised crime groups, who attempt to legitimise their activities through the ownership of such companies."
