28 arrested in raids in Croxteth and Norris Green

Jan 10 2008

Merseyside police car _320

SUSPECTED gang members and drug dealers were rounded up by police today in a raft of early morning raids. A convoy of police vehicles swept through Croxteth and Norris Green just before 7am, stopping outside 30 addresses.

After a year-long evidence gathering operation by the anti-gun anti-gang Matrix Unit, officers used battering rams to get inside the properties which were scattered right across the L11 postcode.

Those arrested are believed to have links to the Strand gang and Croxteth Crew - the two gangs, mainly made up of teenagers, who have fought the war for the last four years on the streets of the neighbouring suburbs.

Within the first hour 28 people aged between 17 and 48 had been arrested.

Two others found in one house were also wanted fugitives and officers also recovered £7,000 in cash hidden by a stereo along with what is believed to be Class A drugs.

Two guns were also found at two separate addresses.

More than 250 officers were given briefing packs on their individual targets before they launched the raids.

While they did not expect to find much in the way of extra evidence, police said today was about taking targets off the streets.

* Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was expected to have a private meeting today with the parents of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, who was shot dead last August as he walked home from football practice in Croxteth.

Ms Smith was in Liverpool today to announce a dramatic change in gun laws.