Police Take Down 'Organized Crime Family' in Dawn Raid Linked to Drug Empire and Child Exploitation

IT was one hell of a wake-up call for a family suspected of running a drug empire that forced disadvantaged kids as young as 12 into slavery.

Yesterday morning, 22 doors were smashed down by in dawn raids across , , Merseyside and to stop a violent clan that has rained down fear for more than a decade.

Police smashed down 22 doors in dawn raids across Manchester, Salford, Merseyside and Wales to target a family suspected of running a violent drug empire exploiting childrenCredit: Andy Kelvin / Kelvinmedia The Sun watched as cops stormed one house in Salford, smashing the front door in with just one thwack, before proceeding inside to search the nine flats insideCredit: GMP Addresses targeted by cops included a dingy caravan in a rundown Salford car park, thought to be the network’s inconspicuous control centreCredit: GMP

More than 250 officers including four firearm units arrested 23 people — among them six boys aged 13 to 17, and the rest men.

Cops also seized including cocaine and ketamine, £3,000 cash, eight Rolex watches, other valuables worth more than £40,000, and imitation firearms and tasers.

The Sun watched as police swooped on one house in Salford, smashing the door in with a single blow, before storming inside to search the nine flats.

They arrested a man believed to be operating a hotline for drug-running youths, as well as a second man they had not expected to meet.

Both are suspected of conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs, modern- day slavery and robbery.

The Operation Copenhagen raids, months in the planning, targeted thought to be part of an group involved in drug-running, money-laundering and child slavery, as well as violence and robberies committed against rival firms as “taxes” for encroaching on their turf.

Addresses raided included a dingy caravan in a rundown Salford car park, believed to have been the network’s control centre.

The operation follows a series of previous arrests and convictions linked to the supply of £1million worth of , , and last year.

Det Supt Joe Harrop, head of Greater Manchester Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit, told us: “This is a serious OCG who have a willingness to use violence. They revel in the violence and the notoriety it brings. All the key players have been in before.

“The group is linked to multiple discharges of firearms. There is a sense of fear surrounding them.

“We can, on an evidential standard, link them to exploiting kids as slaves. We know they’ve groomed some as young as 12.

“There is always widespread misery from supply, and this group are doing it on an extensive basis. The police action shows they are not untouchable.”

The mob who police are trying to stop are known to prey on under-age children in poor areas.

Gang leaders recruit them into running drugs — which are hidden on them — then enslave the kids in a web of violence and terror from which they feel they cannot escape.

The operation follows a series of previous arrests and convictions linked to the supply of £1million worth of crack cocaine, heroin, and cannabis last year aloneCredit: GMP One of the officers emerges from the dawn raid with a smashed doorCredit: Andy Kelvin / Kelvinmedia

drawn into the operation are then used to attract others from their neighbourhoods, as the problem rips through communities.

Gang bosses have devised a carefully incentivised rewards system that woos their “employees” with payments of hundreds of pounds a week, and bonuses and promotions to higher rates for well done.

But if runners lose drugs for any reason, they are often visited with violence by their masters, and hit in the pocket as punishment for their mistake.

Detectives working on the case say it belies a high level of sophistication for the underworld realm of street .

It is also taking a fearful toll on young people, leading them down a path of crime, on a one-way ticket to jail.

One of the teens arrested yesterday was suspected of assaulting an officer, while others remained silent as they were cuffed and taken into custody.

But police take their duty of care seriously, and any arrested minors not later charged will be safeguarded.

Operation Copenhagen chiefs are hopeful their latest raids have dealt a body blow to the network they are trying to bring down.

Previously, police have tried arresting just a few suspects at a time, as they glean intelligence, but drugs lines that are eliminated will be replaced within 24 hours.

So the co-ordinated busts were deemed the best line of attack.

In the recent raids, 11 arrests were in Manchester, four in Salford, two in Wigan, one in Rochdale, one in Bury and one in Bolton. Two were also made in Merseyside and one in South Wales.

Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson said the OCG’s “method is to target vulnerable people”.

But he added of the raids: “This is a really significant operation, targeted towards people who, frankly, deserve everything that’s coming to them.

“It’s going to rip a hole in organised crime across Greater Manchester and beyond.”

More than 250 officers, including four firearm units, joined the raids, arresting 23 people — including six boys aged 13 to 17, and 17 men aged 18 to 55Credit: Andy Kelvin / Kelvinmedia