A series of raids across Scotland last week highlighted the continuing focus of Merseyside's organised crime groups on the drugs market north of the border.
Scouse drug traffickers have a long-running association with Scotland, as both wholesalers providing Class A drugs to local gangs in Scottish cities, and as operators of 'County Line' grafts using vulnerable young people or local addicts to sell their drugs.
Last week officers from Merseyside Police teamed up with Police Scotland for raids in Peterhead, Aberdeen and in Knowsley. On Wednesday, November 2, Police Scotland raided an address in Peterhead where cocaine and heroin were recovered and a man and woman arrested.
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At the same time, back in Stockbridge Village, a raid was carried out on a house in Hollow Croft and a man was detained inside over links to the Peterhead operation. Joshua Donnelly, 28, has now been charged with the supply of crack cocaine and heroin and has been remanded in custody ahead of a trial date.
The following day, raids took place at an address in Gardner Road, Aberdeen, where crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin, cash and drug dealing paraphernalia were seized, with a combined estimated street value of £50,000.
Two men, aged 44 and 21, were arrested at the scene. Detective Constable Karen Maxwell, of Police Scotland's North East Division CID, said: "I would like to thank our colleagues at Merseyside Police for assisting with this operation. Our partnership approach shows our commitment to disrupting those involved in operating and profiting from the sale of illegal and harmful substances.
"We will continue to tackle the exploitation of vulnerable members of our communities in the North East of Scotland. If anyone has any concerns regarding the abuse of controlled drugs, or anyone who may be involved in the supply of controlled drugs, please contact Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."
In a recent documentary for Vice World News about the Scottish cocaine trade, presenter Joshua Osbourne asked an anonymous Glaswegian drug dealer how the illicit market is supplied. He said: ""Most of it's come up from down the road. Outfits from sort of Liverpool, Manchester, those kind of places. You're maybe making £50,000 to £100,000 a week, cash, x amount of houses, cars. The lifestyle was f****** phenomenal mate.
"You've got hundreds of cash here, hundreds of beak [cocaine] there, you've got the prostitutes, you've got all the kind of debauchery that goes along with it. The party lifestyle.
"I came away from the game for a while, and the kind of greed gets the better of you and you're back in. It's as much about the power and the thing you've got over people as well as just making money. It's very addictive, it's just as addictive as the drugs."
Debate has been raging north of the border over how to handle drug-related deaths, which have remained high for a number of years and show little sign of significantly reducing. Scotland still has the highest number of drug deaths in Europe. In 2021, 1,295 deaths were linked to illicit drugs in Scotland, albeit down from 1,411 in 2020 which represented the highest number on record.
Liverpool based street gangs do not appear to have been phased by the misery, death and addiction on the streets of Glasgow and other Scottish cities and towns, however. In 2018, a National Crime Agency (NCA) annual strategic assessment said: “Significant serious organised crime connections exist between Scotland and the north west of England, predominantly Merseyside.
"This analysis is consistent with intelligence that the north west of England, predominantly Liverpool, continues to be the primary source of drug supply into Scotland".
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