Bike criminals under attack as Met Police target scooter crims
● Operation Venice ‘Scorpion Squad’ chase down suspects
● ‘Our units are deployed every day’ SERGEANT TONY MCGOVERN
Class A drugs and a meat cleaver are the latest seizures by motorcycle-mounted police officers from Operation Venice, the Metropolitan police squad set up to fight moped and two-wheel related crime in London.
First pressed into service last year the ‘Scorpion Squad’, the name for Venice’s motorcycleriding officers, have had big success in recent weeks, having found drugs in a stop and search of a fleeing moped rider, then in a separate incident, a knife and meat cleaver.
In the first, officers in Bethnal Green aboard specially-equipped BMW F750GSs pursued a silver Honda moped after it made off through a red light. According to the police, the moped rider rode at excess speed on the pavement and the wrong way down one-way streets, as well as through further red lights. After trying to escape on foot in a park the rider was detained. He claimed he did not know the officers were police. Checks revealed the moped had false registration plates and was uninsured. The rider was arrested for these offences as well as dangerous driving, failing to stop for police and aggravated taking and driving away of the moped. He was also riding without a licence. When a police dog was called to the scene a white plastic tub was found containing 26 wraps of white powder. The man was then further arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs. That same day officers were called to reports of an attack at Mile End Park involving a large knife and a meat cleaver. Scorpion riders conducted a search nearby and a group of six teenagers who matched the description of the suspects were detained and searched. One of the suspects was found to have a large meat cleaver in his waistband and a large kitchen knife was found in a drawstring bag. A 26-year-old male was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon. Sergeant Tony McGovern from Operation Venice, said: “Our units are deployed across London every day to disrupt drug supply and remove weapons from unsafe hands by stopping criminals from using motorbikes, mopeds and scooters to commit crime.”