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Police officers raid Anadolum in Hornsey Road on Tuesday afternoon |
SOCIAL CLUBS SHUT IN BLITZ ON GANG FEUD
Court orders closures as 11 are held in massive police raids
POLICE have won a court bid to shut two Holloway social clubs in the latest attempt to smash a chain of businesses allegedly connected to cannabis dealing and escalating Turkish-Kurdish gang rivalries.
The closures come on the eve of an emergency summit of community leaders from four boroughs desperate to halt recent violence – including three murders and dozens of shootings – blamed on feuding gangs.
Police responded to appeals from members of the Turkish-Kurdish community by launching massive mid-afternoon raids on Tuesday, resulting in 11 arrests.
It is believed simmering tensions between rival gangs reached a high at the weekend as hitmen shot through the windows of Anadolum Social Club, in Hornsey Road, Holloway, and a second business in nearby Seven Sisters Road.
Detective Chief Inspector Adrian Usher, of Islington CID, said police are looking at the possibility that recent violence is a result of “tit-for-tat attacks”.
Minutes before Tuesday’s raid, he reminded the 75-strong team of officers: “We are not targeting the Turkish-Kurdish community, we’re targeting criminal gangs. That’s the response to members of the public, that’s the answer you give.”
Officers then raided Anadolum Social Club and Gunner’s Play members-only football club in Hornsey Road.
According to police evidence presented to Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Thursday), the clubs are linked to four other premises in Hornsey Road and Seven Sisters Road, which have either historically been used as bases for cannabis dealing or been shot at in recent months. The court ordered the closure of Anadolum, for three months, and Gunner’s Play until next week.
Both premises were furnished like social clubs with pool tables and gaming machines but the back walls were made of reinforced steel. At Anadolum, Operation Minox officers smashed through the steel to break through to a back room where bags of skunk – a strong form of cannabis – were found.
Inside, the electricity had been cut. LED lights from a DIY store had been affixed to the ceiling and men hiding out in the back room were using miners’ lamps to see.
But as officers breached the wall, the men inside abandoned their chess board, escaped through a hatch in the ceiling and onto the roof. They were spotted by a police helicopter and caught.
Sgt Chris Walsh, of Tollington and Finsbury Park Safer Neighbourhoods team, said up to 150 people a day visited the premises for seconds at a time, to buy bags of cannabis through a reinforced steel hatch, for £10 a go. More recently, he said, the shop had been doing two-for-one deals. Outside, student Tahir Genc said: “I feel very good that it’s been closed down because it’s saving people’s lives.”
There were more arrests further down the road, at Gunner’s Play, where bags of cannabis and class A drugs were found inside.
A shopworker from neighbouring Mr Cee’s Caribbean Café said: “I thought it was a pool club. I was thinking of joining. The guys used to come in here. They seemed fine.”
Inspector Andy Mariner, leading the raids, described the operation as a “smash-and-dash” effort “targeted at elements of the Turkish-Kurdish and Arabic community”.
In the past six months, Holloway has been the scene of a number of shootings, many aimed at the six premises in Seven Sisters and Hornsey roads.
In March, shopkeeper Ahmet Paytak, 50, was murdered by a gunman as he closed his shop in Holloway.
It is believed gangs have been hiring “muscle” from outside the borough to carry out attacks.
On Friday night, police attended an arson attack in Seven Sisters Road. Two days later, at 3am on Sunday, attackers struck again. This time someone shot at the building.
Just before midnight on Sunday, five shots were fired through the window of Anadolum Social Club. No arrests have been made.
DCI Usher said: “The recent violence is directly connected to the economy behind some local criminal networks. The networks that are drug dealing and handling stolen goods are the root cause.
“There have been a number of violent incidents, including shootings, over the past six months and, while we’re not definitively linking those crimes, we are keeping an open mind. Certainly, one line of inquiry is that these could be tit-for-tat violent attacks.”
He added: “There’s a large Turkish-Kurd community out there who are shouting at us to do more to challenge the criminal networks within their community and there’s conflict within that criminal element.
“We believe there’s a dispute between rival criminal elements in north London and one line of inquiry is that it’s between rival Turkish-Kurdish gangs.”
Five businesses in Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park, were also raided, this time in response to reports of handling stolen goods and complaints of harassment from women.
Gang warfare Scene of four shootings
POLICE attention has centred on six businesses in Hornsey Road and Seven Sisters Road, which they say are all linked:
• (A) Shop in Seven Sisters Road. November – arson attack, followed by shotgun and handgun fired into building a few days later. Police believe building is linked to Firm Cuts Barbers.
• (B) Former cannabis café, Seven Sisters Road, shut by police in March. January and February – shootings in Berriman Road and Thane Villas linked to this address. March – raided by police, bullets found, two men arrested.
• (C) Firm Cuts Barbers, Seven Sisters Road, shut due to closure order until November 25. December last year – cannabis café and crystal meth factory raided and shut for three months. Later reopened as cannabis café. May – three shots fired through window. August – shots fired with an automatic or semi-automatic weapon through the window.
• (D) Anadolum Social Club, Hornsey Road, shut by police for three months. June – man leaving premises arrested for possession of a loaded pistol. November – five shots fired through the window.
• (E) Gunner’s Play, Hornsey Road. Raided by police. Closed until court hearing next week.
• (F) Café in Hornsey Road was supplying drugs but stopped when Gunner’s Play opened. |
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