Gangs target vulnerable to fuel their crime empire
THUGS TAKE OVER VICTIMS’ HOMES TO USE AS BASE FOR DRUGS TRADE AND AS A BOLTHOLE
WARRING gangs are preying on vulnerable people to run their drug operations.
Criminals from two feuding groups in Cheetham Hill are targeting the homes of people who are at risk to make them a base for plying their trade.
Referred to as ‘cuckooing,’ they take over properties and use them to stash drugs, sell drugs and to use as a bolthole when needed.
They are preying on the lonely and addicts.
The situation has been discovered by Operation Heamus, launched to tackle a violent gun war between two crime groups in the district. Since September, there have been six shootings and a street fight in which machetes were brandished.
All the incidents are linked and three young men have been shot.
A territorial drugs dispute is believed to be a root cause but there are thought to be other factors which police are still trying to establish.
Supt Rebecca Boyce of GMP’s City Division, said: “Our neighbourhood team has been focusing on cuckooing, which is basically adult criminal exploitation.
“We have seen an increase, where people will take over flats and houses that belong to vulnerable adults, to use their premises as a base.
“We believe it is part of the tactics used by the two crime groups. That is something we are targeting really strongly.
“If gives the crime groups a place to operate out of view or to get together. The victims can be vulnerable through age, through alcohol and substance abuse, or by the circumstances of their life, lack of employment, mental health issues.”
Police have authorised a ‘stop and search’ order in Cheetham Hill following the shootings. It gives officers more powers to stop and search a person without suspicion.
Supt Boyce said: “We don’t do it lightly, because they are contentious powers. It is definitely something I would consider again either because of an incident that necessitates it or we have intelligence.”