On the morning of Thursday, 19 July, officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) carried out a series of dawn raids at 11 addresses in central and west London leading to the arrest of eight men.
These raids were part of a wider operation being carried out this week under Operation Puglia.
Operation Puglia is a proactive and intelligence led police operation across Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster, targeting “men of violence” and their associates who are known to be habitual knife carriers and who are involved in exploitation of vulnerable people, in response to local community concerns.
Officers executed a total of 70 search warrants across London throughout the week and 67 individuals were arrested.
46 of those have been charged with a total of 210 drug supply and related offences. The eight arrested today – aged between 19 and 66 years – remain in custody.
Three individuals have been released under investigation and one received a caution. (We await an update in respect of the remaining nine people arrested.)
Those arrested include 18 teenagers, of whom the youngest was 15 years. 17 of those have been charged.
All of the teenagers were taken to the Met’s first safeguarding custody facility, which included partners from the local authorities, social services and third sector organisations. They have managed these offenders with a view to diverting these offenders from crime in the future.
This operation has taken months to plan and has required 2,775 police officers and staff from across London to deliver. The cadre of offenders identified have a significant local impact in our local communities, with them linked to in excess of 860 crimes, including violence, weapon offences and discharge of firearms.
Additionally, the 18 teenagers concerned have come to notice of police as missing persons or of concern more than 470 times in the last year.
Detective Superintendent Raffaele D’Orsi, the officer in overall charge of Operation Puglia said: “Operation Puglia continues to be a large, major and complex enquiry that is removing violent and dangerous individuals and groups from the communities that they are abusing.
“This is one of the largest investigations and numbers of arrests that the MPS has ever undertaken. I am enormously proud of the personal resilience and tenacious investigative expertise that my colleagues from Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Trident and the Territorial Support Group, as well as the City of London Police, have committed to this complex enquiry. The work of all of my colleagues during Operation Puglia will ensure that those arrested will face justice.
“We have already seen that the overwhelming evidence secured by the investigation team has led to numerous Operation Puglia subjects pleading guilty at court.
“The message to those predisposed to carry weapons, or be involved in violent crime or drug dealing in London is simple: the Met and our partners are here to help you out of this way of life, but if you choose not to take this help, we know where you live and we will come and arrest you to protect our communities from you.”