Yard blitz on gun crime

Two Yardie gang leaders were arrested today as Scotland Yard launched a massive blitz on London gun crime.

Heavily-armed officers in body protection swooped on 13 addresses in north-west London in an operation codenamed Nightlight.

Neighbourhoods were sealed off and roads closed as police used battering rams to break down reinforced front doors.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, Tarique Ghaffur, said eight people had been held including "two major players".

The Yardies and suspected crack

cocaine dealers are thought to be leading members of the Jamaicanbased Lock City Crew and Must Lov Crews. Mr Ghaffur added: "Today's operation in Brent sends out a clear message to those individuals engaged in violent crimes involving firearms.

"We will not become complacent, but instead continue to mount operations against people who bring so much fear and misery to communities across London."

The raids were on houses and flats in Harlesden, Kilburn and Willesden, and were part of a continuing operation to hunt down the "men of violence" behind a recent spate of shootings.

During the past six months, three men have been shot dead, there were 45 attempted murders and eight other non-fatal shootings in Brent.

The steep rise in gun crime in the area is thought to be linked to a new gangland turf war centred on the lucrative crack trade.

It is the worst rise in shootings in the area since the late Nineties.

The two "major players" held today are believed to be behind the shootings-Other suspects were arrested for a variety of offences, including possession with intent to supply heroin and cannabis as well as immigration issues.

But police conceded that at least 50 other suspects linked to the rise in shootings are still at large.

In March, Hurschell Broderick, 27, was shot dead as he sat in a car in High Street, Harlesden. Two men have been charged with his murder. Six days later Kavian Francis-Hopwood, 21, was gunned down as he walked through the area's Stonebridge Estate. He died the next day in hospital. So far one man has been arrested but no one has been charged.

Two weeks after this murder, Shawn Perch, 30, was shot twice by a pillion passenger on a motorbike in Harlesden and died immediately. Two men have been charged with his murder.

Chief Superintendent Andrew Bamber, who led today's operation, said: "This is an ongoing operation to rid Brent of criminals who use guns. And it sends out a message across London that we will not tolerate gun crime." The operation was co-ordinated by a new Scotland Yard taskforce set up to organise largescale operations against major criminals.

In January nearly 500 police officers were involved in a massive raid against an organised Turkish crime gang in north London.