Police’s warning to criminals as drugs gang jailed

Codenamed Operation Fang, the six-month inquiry by Lancashire Police's targeted crime unit in the Pennine area smashed a crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis cartel operating from a house in Hilary Street, Burnley.

But the inquiry is the latest in a number of successes for the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale team, set up nearly two years ago to tackle high-level street crime across the three boroughs.

Police chiefs are adamant that the assistance offered by local residents, through police community action meetings, has proved invaluable.

Background intelligence offered by neighbours enabled the team, led by Det Insp Dean Holden, to move in on the Hilary Street gang.

Undercover police kept watch on ringleader Masood Akbar, his right-hand man Asim Rauf and 'drugs runners' Michael McCann and Mohammed Munir before they swooped.

This week Akbar, of St George's Square, Burnley, was jailed for five years and four months; Rauf for four years and eight months; McCann, who had not pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, got six years and three months; and Munir was given 14 months jail, after they admitted an array of drugs conspiracy offences.

Det Insp Holden said: "If you traffic drugs in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale then there is a good chance that you will be investigated and receive a five-year prison sentence."

The unit has been involved in 'mapping' the organised crime groups believed to be operating in the three East Lancashire boroughs.

And while police admit they cannot conduct extensive inquiries on all the underworld gangs, simultaneously, they are already enlisting the support of neighbourhood policing units.

DI Holden added: "We have a dedicated pro-active investigation team and also dedicated uniformed teams working to tackle organised crimes.

"People involved in organised crime are going to be stop-checked and kept under watch, so we can disrupt their activities as much as we can."