Feared ‘Turkish mafia’ group targeted by massive crime crackdown on London’s streets | UK News

London’s Metropolitan Police launched a raid on crime gangs across the capital including the feared Turkish mafia to reduce the murder rate to its lowest level in a decade, a senior detective said.

There were 97 murders in London in the year to January compared with 109 in 2024.

This number represents a decrease of 11 percent and is a large increase compared to 2021 when 30 teenagers were among the 133 people killed.

There will only be eight teenagers who will become victims in 2025.

The lowest ever recorded reduction in per capita murder rates was achieved through a number of tactics including increased use of facial recognition technology and more education about the horrors of knife crime for school children.

But the core of the police strategy is the disarmament and dismantling of organized crime groups, including regional drug agents whose business models depend on violence on the streets of the capital.

Detective Chief Inspector Rick Sewart said gangs, such as Turkish heroin smuggling group Bombacilar (the bombers) and rival Tottenham Boys, were among the Met’s most significant targets in the capital.

He says Metro: ‘Turkish gangs are the number one threat to the UK and London when it comes to firearms. We have worked closely with Europol and the National Crime Agency in supplying firearms to Europe and the UK.

“We have a clear focus on organized crime groups that carry firearms and supply these street gangs. One operation alone starting in 2024 has helped us recover 138 firearms and 2,500 rounds of ammunition from certain organized crime groups that have imported weapons into Turkish organized crime groups.”

In 2012, the head of the Turkish crime family, Ali Armagan, 32, was shot dead in his customized Audi limousine outside Turnpike Lane station by a rival.

Sewart said: ‘There are clashes going on between major crime groups and we have seen this particularly in relation to Turkish organized crime in north and east London between groups such as Bombacilar and Tottenham Boys who supply heroin. But we have made significant inroads into that.’

Sewart said that local-level operations, which are not necessarily linked to larger organized crime groups such as the Turkish gang, exploit young teenagers.

He said they sent them on the street to sell drugs and often had confrontations with rivals from other gangs and were sometimes injured or even killed.

On Friday, Metro joined the dawn raid on the suspect’s County Lines home.

The raid was aimed at closing the line known as ‘Adam’s Line’.

More than 20 officers surrounded his north London home in the raid, which was part of Operation Yamata, and broke down the door using devices known as ‘enforcers’.

The 35-year-old man was charged with supplying heroin and cocaine.

Sewart, speaking on county lines, said: ‘The tactics included intercepting county line operations. We have closed a large number of drug routes in the capital.

“We have been able to identify who is distributing drugs in the capital and who their groups are.

“That activity has allowed an increase in the number of weapons we recovered in the last year by 75 percent. More stop and searches have also helped with that.”

On whether the decline in murder rates could be a trend

“I believe we are in a position to say that the trend is no more. We cannot say there will be no unrealistic killings, but what we can do is ensure that we continue to be relentless and focused on organized crime groups. There are other motives for killings such as domestic and family motives.”

Regarding the Met’s pledge to eradicate Violence Against Women and Girls, he said: ‘We often find women exploited, asked to hold guns or firearms. They are often also victims of domestic violence, so it is vital that we continue to tackle this.’

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