By Craig McDonald
Contributor
More than 3,000 hours of CCTV footage have been identified for analysis, around 2,000 checks on cars have been carried out, and a dozen stolen vehicles have been recovered as police in Scotland investigate the shocking outbreak of gangland violence.
Officers assigned to the inquiry are checking 350 addresses on a daily basis while, critically, 24 people have been arrested at the time of writing.
However, for Police Scotland – including divisional officers and the specialist organised crime team – the moves to tackle the disorder, which has seen individuals attacked and houses torched, are far from over.
With a history linked to a decades-old gang feud in the north of Glasgow, but which now takes in organised crime groups (OCGs) whose tentacles reach from Edinburgh to Dubai, it is a fast-moving and complex investigation which is set to run for months.
Speaking to 1919, experts with years of experience in investigating organised crime warn of the challenges facing officers, with one former police chief stating that the situation is so serious that a separate organised crime agency could be formed to work alongside Police Scotland.
Meanwhile, insight into the ongoing fallout from EncroChat, the supposedly secure messaging platform favoured by OCGs which was comprehensively infiltrated by law enforcement, identifies it as a key factor in the gang war – and in how the investigation could develop.
Graeme Pearson, former director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), says: “In previous generations, police from beat officers to specialists spent a fair bit of time on the streets disrupting organised crime by simply interfering with their day-to-day habits.
“There’s less opportunity for them to do that now, while there are also issues with the willingness of witnesses to come forward to give evidence. Corruption is also a factor, given the wealth these groups have behind them.
“When we get into the politics of it all, funding for the efforts required to tackle organised crime is a big challenge.
“From the outset, when the SNP put together a single police force – a move I supported in order to use resources best – there was a focus on ‘how do we save money’, rather than ‘how do we better organise things’.
“I proposed that the SCDEA should continue as a separate agency to focus wholly on organised crime, free from the threat of resources being diverted to other priorities.
“It would have allowed the agency’s full commitment to monitoring OCGs, with all the partnership arrangements necessary, such as with the National Crime Agency, HMRC and so on.
“It didn’t happen, and I think we then saw something of a mishmash of priorities.”
Pearson adds: “One might argue that organised crime didn’t receive the commitment necessary to ensure there were enough officers and resources in place to deal with it, so perhaps a separate agency is worth looking at.
“The state we are in just now regarding this gang war is because of EncroChat, and the cases which arrived on the back of it, which were so successful.
“It put a lot of crime figures in Scottish prisons and created a vacuum on the streets which people have been trying to fill.
“It also put a lot of significant crime figures in prison together, who are trying to exert influence on the outside. New alliances are being created, inside and on the streets.
“But it’s important to bear in mind that officers on these inquiries just now will be working very hard, and they will get results, because as much as these thugs have thrown the gauntlet down to their rivals, they have also thrown the gauntlet down to Police Scotland.
“It’s great to see results coming via arrests and, with EncroChat and other sources, there’s still a lot to go through. There are doors to be chapped yet.
“Intelligence will have revealed the identities of current players. Whether they’re in Scotland or Dubai, police are waiting for them – and charge sheets will be waiting for them too.”
The drugs feud, stretching back to the early 2000s, reignited this year with a series of outrageous attacks.
Glasgow’s rival Lyons and Daniel clans have been implicated, while a new figure, residing in Dubai, is believed to be orchestrating events, with threats issued against Edinburgh gangster Mark Richardson, who is affiliated to the Daniel group.
Richardson is currently in isolation at HMP Low Moss, while homes and businesses linked to his family and associates are among those targeted.
Other figures include Steven ‘Bonzo’ Daniel, who took over leadership of his family’s firm after the death of his millionaire scrap dealer uncle Jamie from cancer.
Rival group head Steven Lyons is said to be in Spain and has overseen his gang’s expansion by building connections with OCGs including Ireland’s notorious Kinahan cartel.
He is believed to have formed an understanding with a Dubai-based hood in his 30s known as ‘Miami’.
It is claimed this year’s attacks were sparked after Richardson’s associates used fake banknotes to con the Dubai-based Scot in a £500,000 drug deal.
The violence began when a car was allegedly set on fire in The Jewel area of Edinburgh on March 2. An 18-year-old man has been arrested.
Later that month, a string of incidents saw properties in the capital set on fire and reports of shots being fired.
On April 3, police raided five houses in Edinburgh and Musselburgh with weapons, drugs and cash seized. The attacks have continued with a Niddrie house blaze spreading to a neighbouring property.
Then, in a geographical escalation, a house was set on fire in the Robroyston area of Glasgow.
A 72-year-old and a 12-year-old were seriously assaulted in April at a house in Glasgow’s Milton, with further incidents in Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch, Stepps, and Edinburgh’s Craiglockhart.
Peter Bleksley, a former Met police detective with extensive experience of undercover investigations into organised crime, says: “Clearly, there is a war going on and it all boils down to drugs. Resources are the key, and Police Scotland can devote resources to this for as long as it is a priority.
“The problem comes when another priority crops up. If another major incident occurs, the focus may well shift.
“However, at the moment, Police Scotland appear to be throwing the kitchen sink at it, and this will inevitably bring results.”
Experts, meanwhile, say that following previous reductions in gang crime, there is evidence of an upturn, with the pandemic a possible factor.
Alistair Fraser, professor of criminology at the University of Glasgow, says: “Between 2005 and 2015, Scotland, and Glasgow in particular, saw a sustained reduction in recorded violent crime but, more recently, rates have started to increase.
“Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit was central to a growth in targeted interventions in Glasgow, but there were other important changes, including funding for grassroots organisations and dedicated high-quality youth work.”
He says that following the pandemic and funding cuts to local services, “physical spaces where activities and support had been organised for young people have now closed”.
He adds: “In the absence of these ‘safe spaces’, young people are now drawn to digital spaces such as social media platforms where conflict and intimidation is becoming an increasing concern.”
The gang violence was raised at Holyrood in April, with Justice Secretary Angela Constance quizzed on plans to tackle the problem.
A Scottish Government spokesperson told 1919: “We are investing a record £1.64 billion for policing this year, and Police Scotland took on more recruits last financial year than at any time since 2013, with further intakes planned this year.
“The reported incidents in Glasgow and Edinburgh are an operational matter for Police Scotland, and we strongly encourage anyone with information to report it to police or anonymously through Crimestoppers.”
Meanwhile, police have vowed there will be no let-up in their efforts to nail the gangs responsible.
Detective Chief Superintendent David Ferry says: “While we believe these incidents are linked to rival groups targeting each other, I want to make it clear this violence will not be tolerated.
“We are working tirelessly to build cases and are following a number of significant lines of enquiry.
“I also wish to thank the public for their help and information so far, and the support of our communities is absolutely vital when it comes to tackling serious organised crime, preventing violence, and getting justice for victims.”
For a perspective from Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay on the gang wars, click here.