A three-year undercover operation has resulted in more than 20 members of Salford crime families being convicted of guns and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
Those convicted include three generations from one family including a 77-year-old grandfather.<\/p>\n
A GMP officer infiltrated gangsters between 2012 and 2015 to gather crucial evidence.<\/p>\n
Operation Damson has resulted in 78 convictions, including 12 people being convicted of firearm trafficking offences.<\/p>\n
Seven firearms were recovered, including a James-Bond style pen gun, plus Class A, B, and C drugs, and a drugs press.<\/p>\n
The intelligence provided by the officer resulted in 200 officers carrying out dawn raids on September 9 last year across the city in a major crackdown on organised crime. Most of the raids were in the Broughton area.<\/p>\n
Sentencing will start today of 19 people at Manchester Crown Court after a lengthy trial which was held behind closed doors. A judge had imposed reporting restrictions on the case until sentencing.<\/p>\n
Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said \u201cRest assured this is not a one-off, this is a sustained campaign to protect vulnerable people and bring those who exploit them to justice. We have not, and will not, reduce our commitment to targeting serious organised crime in Salford.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to use all of the powers and information available to us and our partners to locate this criminality and put a stop to it for good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"