In the shadow of Manchester city centre, gangs of brazen drug dealers have been peddling crack cocaine and heroin in plain sight. Each day, waves of homeless people descend on the streets of Beswick and Miles Platting to get their hands on class A drugs.
The bleak reality being played out on Manchester's streets has emerged following an undercover operation to smash the gangs who were living "Love Island lifestyles", which saw 17 arrested yesterday.
Dawn raids were carried out after an eight-month police investigation into drugs being sold openly on streets between Piccadilly and the Etihad Stadium. Officers posed as drug users to buy crack and recorded the deals.
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Detectives say they 'have never seen drug dealing so brazen and unchallenged' in the city before. One of the streets taken over by dealers is Palmerston Street, which stretches from the city centre to the estates of Beswick, the M.E.N. understands.
Tucked away amid the swanky developments in Ancoats and New Islington, it feels a world away. Flanked by overgrown woodland, its secluded location and close proximity to the city's homeless population were ideal for dealers intent on peddling misery.
Yet families living on a nearby housing estate say they are being subjected to a daily "nightmare" which has left them afraid to let their children out. Yvonne Kearney and Paul Cassidy live in Ancoats Grove with their two young children - just yards from where dealers and sex workers congregate.
"They are constantly dealing," said Ms Kearney. "Prostitution is a big issue around here, it goes on all day and night. You see the prostitutes getting served all the time.
"When they pull up in the street, you know what they're doing. The other night there was a girl coming down the street shouting that she needs a pipe.
"It's an absolute nightmare and it's been going on for years. We've got two kids and I don't want them seeing things like that.
"Our daughter goes out playing football on the field but we have heard there are needles on there. People are fed up. It's a nice area, it's just what creeps out of the city centre."
Locals say dealers and sex workers gather outside the abandoned River Inn pub close to Palmerston Street's junction with Ancoats Grove. It is not uncommon for people to find used needles, condoms and even human faeces outside their homes.
When the M.E.N . visited the area on Wednesday afternoon, we came across drug paraphernalia a short distance from homes where young families live. One father, who asked not to be named, said he regularly faced questions from his young son about what was going on on the street outside.
"I can't answer them," he said. "It's very worrying because I can't let him out.
"I see that they are selling drugs. They argue with people living here who are not happy with the noise."
Ann Andrew, 55, has seen drug addicts dispose of needles and defecate in the alley in front of her home. "It's disgusting," she said. "I have three teenage kids and I've had to stop them going out there.
"It's getting worse for prostitution and drug dealing round here. You see them a lot.
"They just do it in plain sight. When I first moved here 20 years ago it was alright but then all of a sudden it started.
"It's getting really scruffy, we've found condoms in the garden. We're fed up with it all but we've reported many a thing and nothing has been done."
Another man said he regularly heard "screaming and shouting" outside his home in the early hours of the morning. "There are needles and contraceptives all over the place," he explained.
"They go up around the back fields and use it as a toilet. Most of the people round here have been here a long time.
"It's not what you want at the end of your street. I've lived here 30 years and it really had gone worse.
"You can't go out at night. My granddaughter works shifts and gets home at 9pm and I worry for her. If you see a policeman round here then he's lost."
Another man said he regularly saw crowds of homeless people descend on the area to buy drugs. "They run down the hill behind my house at night," he explained.
"They all seem to come together when a dealer is around. If you look at night there are cars stopping and the homeless people run over.
"They have even defecated by my gate. I have grandchildren and I won't let them out."
Detectives say the dealers have been making huge profits to help finance flash lifestyles. One suspect has been spending £1,500 a month hiring a top-of-the-range car. Cash is also being splashed on designer clothes, jewellery, and watches.
Detective Sergeant Dan Pickavance, of GMP's North Manchester Division, said: "It is very lucrative indeed. They are preying on their vulnerabilities. The people we have identified as being behind this, are themselves living Love Island lifestyles, on the back of selling heroin to drug users."
He added: "There are 450 rough sleepers around Manchester. I would suggest a large number of them, at least twice a day, will go into north Manchester to purchase class A drugs at £20 a round. We have identified at least six drugs lines running in that little area of Miles Platting and Beswick.
"They are using the money for ridiculously expensive clothes like tracksuits, and hire cars. One person we have identified was spending £1,500 a month on a car. I have been many many houses where you'll see a number of Selfridges bags in the houses - all goods bought with cash. They will think nothing of spending £1,000 on a Saturday night in Manchester. These drug dealers are leeching off our communities. and it's time to fight back."
Rivalries between different drugs factions are also behind a spate of tit-for-tat shootings in the districts. As well as supplying homeless with drugs, the gangs have also made Miles Platting a place for "functioning" addicts to buy.
In dawn raids today, eight people were held - seven men and one woman - on suspicion of offering to supply undercover officers drugs; possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs; money laundering; and being concerned with the supply of Class A drugs.
Other suspects were arrested yesterday and in total GMP are targeting 21 people. Homes in Miles Platting, Droylsden, and Beswick were raided, and another suspect is being sought in Cambridgeshire. Police also recovered weapons, including a terrifying serrated zombie knife kept under a sofa in a house where a one-year-old lives, plus large amounts of cash, drugs, and designer clothes.
Detective Sergeant Pickavance said: "I have worked north Manchester for pretty much all of my career, which is 14 years. I have always been aware that there's a drug dealing problem in Miles Platting and Beswick areas. However more recently I have seen that issue become more prevalent, more visual, it is open air drug dealing. I have never seen that before in Manchester. I have never seen it so brazen and unchallenged.
"We wanted to put in an operation to clear the decks and then some kind of framework to stop this continuing to happen. It is all crack cocaine and heroin, and their entire market almost is the homeless and rough sleeping population, from the city centre.
"There's three waves every single day. You get the early morning trade from about 9am to 10am, where you will see drug users coming into Miles Platting and Beswick to purchase class A drugs with money they have begged. They then disappear back into the city centre to their begging spots.
"They come back at one to two o'clock in the afternoon to purchase from well established drugs lines, and again in the evening. We have been working closely with the city council to make them aware of this, who are in the second tier of the Mayor's plan to house these rough sleepers. Obviously drug support is also offered.
"What my angle is, is to remove permanently those drug dealing lines and then to send out text messages to people on the drug dealers' phones, (drug users) saying if you need some help and support contact us. We want to remove that easy access for them to get the drugs."
Following the raids, Ancoats and Beswick councillor Alan Good welcomed the action taken by police. He said: "I'm pleased to see progress on combatting drug dealing in Ancoats and Beswick. Many residents have expressed concerns to me about these issues and I am glad they are being tackled."
