FIVE MORE LONDON YARDIE ARRESTS

FIVE fresh arrests were made yesterday by Scotland Yard officers
investigating a spate of London murders linked to Yardie gangsters.

Ammunition, pounds 17,000 in cash and what is thought to be crack cocaine
were also seized by armed police in early morning raids at two addresses in
north east London. Four men were arrested on Monday by detectives targeting
gun and drug crime under the title Operation Trident.

Yesterday detectives arrested two women and three men. A man and a woman
were seized in Chingford along with two kilos of what is thought to be
cocaine. The others were arrested in Islington where officers recovered
more cash and three quarters of a kilo of suspected crack cocaine. North
London crime commander Mike Craik said: “The operations have been extremely
successful and have resulted in us ensuring that drugs and ammunition have
been removed from the streets of north London.”

There have been 13 killings and at least 30 other shootings in the capital
this year in Yardie style attacks linked with turf wars over the lucrative
crack cocaine trade. They included the killing earlier this month of small
time drug dealer Dean Roberts, 20, who was shot several times at close
range in Harlesden, north west London.

And in May, Laverne Forbes, 28, and her partner Patrick Smith were murdered
in front of their seven year old daughter in Tottenham, north London.

Police have released the four men who were arrested on Monday. A Scotland
Yard spokesmen said three men were bailed to return to a police station in
August pending further inquiries. The fourth was released with no further
action taken.