From Streamline today:

In a massive display of force aimed at dismantling entrenched criminal networks, over 300 Merseyside Police officers executed dozens of synchronized dawn raids across the region on Thursday morning. The sweeping crackdown, codenamed Operation Vanguard, represents the third and largest iteration of Chief Constable Rob Carden’s relentless offensive against serious organised crime, county lines drug trafficking, and endemic community violence.

In a massive display of force aimed at dismantling entrenched criminal networks, over 300 Merseyside Police officers executed dozens of synchronized dawn raids across the region on Thursday morning. The sweeping crackdown, codenamed Operation Vanguard, represents the third and largest iteration of Chief Constable Rob Carden’s relentless offensive against serious organised crime, county lines drug trafficking, and endemic community violence.

Operation Vanguard operates under the broader umbrella of the ‘EVOLVE’ initiative, a multi-faceted policing strategy designed not merely to arrest suspects, but to achieve long-term “Clear and Hold” objectives. The targets of Thursday’s raids were implicated in a broad spectrum of severe offenses.

• Narcotics: Mid-level drug distribution and the exploitation of vulnerable youths via cross-border “County Lines” trafficking linked to Scotland.
• Violence and Exploitation: Suspects involved in serious violence, child sexual exploitation, modern-day slavery, and severe domestic abuse.
• Acquisitive Crime: High-value burglary networks and the usage of illegal off-road motorcycles and e-bikes to facilitate rapid escapes.

Source: https://streamlinefeed.co.ke/news/operation-vanguard-strikes-merseyside-300-police-officers-target-organised-crime

How Liverpool County Lines gangs keep Scotland’s drug deaths high

The ‘Scottish‘ media above collectively hanging on to our drug deaths sadness and discounting any progress.

Utterly ignored by ‘your’ media but in the Liverpool Echo in November 2022, above, and:

A series of raids across Scotland last week highlighted the continuing focus of Merseyside’s organised crime groups on the drugs market north of the border. Last week officers from Merseyside Police teamed up with Police Scotland for raids in Peterhead, Aberdeen and in Knowsley. On Wednesday, November 2, Police Scotland raided an address in Peterhead where cocaine and heroin were recovered and a man and woman arrested.

Debate has been raging north of the border over how to handle drug-related deaths, which have remained high for a number of years and show little sign of significantly reducing. Scotland still has the highest number of drug deaths in Europe. In 2021, 1,295 deaths were linked to illicit drugs in Scotland, albeit down from 1,411 in 2020 which represented the highest number on record.

Liverpool based street gangs do not appear to have been phased by the misery, death and addiction on the streets of Glasgow and other Scottish cities and towns, however. In 2018, a National Crime Agency (NCA) annual strategic assessment said: “Significant serious organised crime connections exist between Scotland and the north west of England, predominantly Merseyside. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-drugs-gangs-still-eye-25476347

Was any of that reported by BBC Scotland, STV? I can find nothing.

The Liverpool Echo is making a clear causal connection between Liverpool drug gangs, the flood of cheap, more powerful, drugs into Scotland and our still far too high drug deaths. Why are Scotland’s media ignoring that?