150 police smash drug ring

Police today launched a massive assault on what they described as probably the biggest organised crime group in Britain.

In one of Scotland Yard's largest ever series of coordinated raids, about 550 officers targeted 15 addresses around London throughout the night.

They raided homes, businesses, gambling dens, cafes - and even a fruit stall - linked to a notorious Turkish family who are described as "kingpins" in the international heroin smuggling trade with interests in Britain, Turkey and throughout Europe. They are also linked to extortion and the alarming rise in gun crime in the capital.

The family, which cannot be named for legal reasons, has been involved in a vicious escalating turf war with other Turkish and Kurdish groups in north London, which has seen 10 gang murders in the last three years.

Twenty men were arrested at addresses across north London before 7am. Armed officers led the raids on the homes of "major players" involved in the gangs. Illegal gambling dens and businesses and shops used as fronts for their trade were also raided.

Two guns, drugs - thought to be cocaine - and at least £13,000 in cash were seized.

In one raid, scores of police stormed the £1 million home of a gang ringleader in Edgware, arresting two suspects.

At another - on a cafe - in Wood Green, officers burst into an illegal gambling den where nine people were in the middle of a game of cards.

One man attacked police with a two-foot metal kebab skewer but he was overpowered.

At the cafe officers found a Tazer stun gun, a substance believed to be cocaine and £13,000 in cash - £3,000 of which was stashed inside a pool table.

Commander John Yates said: "We have made significant finds in terms of guns and money. All our intelligence suggests that these are very big players in terms of criminality in London and internationally.

"Our intelligence suggests they are involved in major international heroin trafficking."

The operation - codenamed Narita - comes two months after a daylight shoot-out between rival gangs in Green Lanes, Harringay.

Forty men were involved in the gun battle at a cafè on a busy Saturday evening in November.

Father-of-two Alisan Dogan, 43, was stabbed to death. Four were shot and 20 others were injured in the melee involving guns, baseball bats and knives.

Yesterday, a 38-year-old man from Preston in Lancashire was arrested in connection with Mr Dogan's murder.

Today's raids were the biggest clampdown yet by Scotland Yard on Turkish gangs involved in the international multi- million- pound heroin trade in Britain.

Officers from the Yard's Turkish Crime Force, the National Crime Squad and the specialist SO19 firearms unit were involved in the raids, along with other police from the Anti-Terrorist Branch.

Commander Alan Brown, who has spearheaded the Yard's fight against gun crime, said: "This is probably the biggest organised crime group in the UK.

"They survived in London because they are extremely professional. To build an organisation like this they have used intimidation and expensive violence. They have shown the ability to shoot to kill, to maim and to shoot at police officers.

"This is part of an overall approach to get rid of this cancer in north London."

Commander Brown added: "It's not going to be over tonight. It will go on for months. To think we can get rid of it tonight is to kid ourselves, but we are sending messages that their behaviour will not be tolerated.

"We are going to places where in the past people may have said it was too risky, we are going to go there and show residents that these people are not beyond law and order."

Safety was at a premium in today's operation following the tragic death of Special Branch detective Stephen Oake during a terrorist raid in Manchester last week.

Superintendent Mark Ricketts, one of the leaders of Operation Narita, told his men: "Body armour will be worn by all officers - if there is anyone here without it, they are not going. My measure of success is that you will all get home uninjured. The other successes we can hope for later on."

Firearms officers were also given a clear indication that they could come under attack with heavy duty weaponry and were given strong backing to use whatever force was needed.