Manchester's infamous Counterfeit Street is to be bulldozed. In a radical move to smash what police say is a national magnet for criminality, buildings on Bury New Road in the Strangeways area are to be closed, compulsory purchased, and then flattened.
The move, is part of an operation to erase for good dozens of shops in the area which sell hooky clothing, perfume, tobacco and toys but are also believed to be a front for serious crime. GMP have established that 33 organised crime gangs from across the UK have links to the area.
Brazen selling of prescription drugs on the streets near the shops is a daily occurrence, and illegal immigration; modern-day slavery; women, being forced to work as sex workers, and the use of empty buildings for cannabis farms are rife in the district say police. Women walking through the area have reported being sexually harassed by men.
After decades of repeat raids on the shops to seize tonnes of counterfeit clothing and goods - which are quickly replenished - GMP is to work with Manchester council, and other organisations to deliver a permanent solution. The opening of a new £93m campus for Manchester College on the site of the old Boddington's Brewery within 200 yards of the stores selling counterfeit goods, plus a Travelodge hotel, which is even closer, have also been a catalyst for action as students and guests at the hotel have been harassed.
Today as part of Operation Vulcan police recovered a Sprinter van used in a burglary, containing thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit goods, as well as a machete and an axe. Inside a building in Lockett Street, Strangeways, where the vehicle was parked they discovered five units containing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit designer clothing, perfume, jewellery and other goods.
A senior officer told the Manchester Evening News that "the full power" of GMP would be used "everyday" to dismantle what is a nest of criminality at a major gateway to the city.
If cleared the area would free up prime locations for development as Manchester city centre continues to expand. It has already spread across the River Irwell into Greengate, Salford, where huge new apartment blocks have risen. A similar regeneration is envisaged along Bury New Road - which long term could also mean the closure and demolition of Strangeways Prison parts of which are Victorian, and crumbling.
Detective Supt Neil Blackwood, who is heading Operation Vulcan, said: "This comes directly from our Chief Constable. He has described Cheetham Hill as a place that is criminally hostile and he is not prepared to have that in his force area.
"Counterfeiting has been around for a very long time but the criminality has shifted into prescription drugs; people being exploited sexually and for their labour, and illegal immigration - a microcosm of criminality."
Asked if the Operation Vulcan ultimately included demolition of the buildings used as warrens for counterfeit sales, he said: "Yes. We are going for closure orders, with Manchester City Council, then compulsory purchase orders.
"We are probably in the position of clear, hold, build. Clear it, and hold, so no one comes back, and then its Manchester City Council's gift to give in terms of rebuilding. Most of those buildings will end up at the end of a bulldozer. Most unrecoverable, because they have been chopped and changed around.
"There has been a lack of consistency - we are there one day not the next, and that is where our chief has recognised that is a problem. So, we will be there everyday. I have more patience than them.
"We have quite an established red-light district at the back of Strangeways, as improvements around Piccadilly have shifted the red light area. We are coming across people of Eastern European, and Asian heritage who are saying I don't want to be here doing this. In Cheetham Hill last year there were 32 referrals to the National Referral Mechanism. We are talking about street workers, some of whom have been here quite a long time
"The area is quite synonymous with cannabis farming - Albanian gangs who have come in, taken vacant properties, and converted them into cannabis farms. They will have a diverse range of people working in them, most of whom are forced to do so - Vietnamese being amongst them. We are going into properties and finding people who are saying 'I am not allowed out of here. I grow this, and that is my debt being paid off'. We are talking £10,000 per person.
"We understand there is a proportion of the community especially in these unstable economic times who are reliant on buying this stuff, especially with Christmas coming. Every time we go down there, there are customers who don't see the problem of buying it. But there is so much more behind the counterfeiting which we want people to understand.
"This is organised crime - counterfeit goods will make them a profit and counterfeit pregabalin which can kill people, makes them a profit. We know of 33 organised crime groups, based in the UK who will use their criminality in and around Cheetham Hill and Strangeways. They have links to mass money laundering, firearms, drugs, modern-day slavery, immigration - anything that will give them a profit.
"In terms of counterfeit goods these OCG's know Cheetham Hill is an outlet for them - so they are supplying them. They work together - so if one has a loss - North West Regional Organised Crime Unit took out 200 tonnes of counterfeit goods last year - that will be replaced quite quickly. We are talking a few days if that. We clear out a shop - it will be back in business with new shutters , all the stuff back on the shelves in a couple of days. This is why Vulcan is going for stuff which is causing most harm rather than stuff which is in our face."
The lucrative nature of the trading in the area has triggered disputes leading to fighting on the street - in which machetes have been used.
"It needs to feel safe, it needs to be for the law-abiding community. We will do whatever it takes - arresting people for drug dealing; if they have premises, which a lot of them do, we will take it off them. We will close it, and the fire service will come and say, we are condemning it - if they go fishing in the Irwell at lunchtime we will check if they have a rod licence. They can get unlimited fines from Manchester City Council for not having the correct trade waste bins."
"The OCGS use Bury New Road as a hub - it is so well known - as Counterfeit Street. But it is so much more than that. Thirteen people died in Greater Manchester last year because of prescription medication. Cheetham Hill is the hub for illicit prescription medication. If you speak to drug users, dependent people, they are travelling from far and wide - Bolton, Wigan, to come and buy their drugs."
Some prescription drugs are being diverted from India and Turkey from legitimate loads. But millions are fake being manufactured in secret "labs" in Manchester.
"They can make millions of tablets in a week. They are knocking them out for £1 a strip which is about four to six tablets, so they are making an awful lot of money very quickly - and the customers are there."
In November last year the Manchester Evening News , reported how pregabalin, normally used to treat nerve damage, epilepsy and anxiety, is being increasingly used among the city centre's rough sleepers and drug addicts.
Linked to a growing number of deaths in England and Wales in recent years, it's being sold for just 50p a tablet in places - and experts fear that because it's commonly taken in combination with other substances, such as heroin, crack and Spice, it could lead to a spike in overdoses.
Commenting on Operation Vulcan Detective Supt Blackwood said: "It is a really massive investment for GMP. We are hoping other organisations will give us the same kind of commitment, and staffing. If we don't do it the problem will only got worse." Money to finance the crackdown is coming from seized criminal assets.
The aim is to not only shut down Counterfeit Street but also to pursue multiple prosecutions for major offences including supply of drugs and modern-slavery. Currently those caught selling prescription drugs in the area are escaping with community order sentences at court. But police will be seeking criminal behaviour orders which will result in people staying out of the area or risking being locked up.
GMP are already thinking ahead to the fallout from a disrupted Counterfeit Street. Detective Supt Blckwood said: "We know from intelligence that many counterfeit enterprises are considering going online anyway. We will work with the City of London Police who have a remit for tackling international property crime as one of our key partners. So in terms of that kind of displacement we have a plan."
Regarding the drug dealing element of the issue, he said: "They are not going to set up the equivalent of what is in Cheetham Hill and Strangeways in, say Bolton. It will not happen."
A summit of partners at which GMP will seek support for Operation Vulcan will be held on November 3rd. Among those attending will be officers from Manchester City Council ; GMCA; the Crown Prosecution Service; North West Regional Organised Crime Unit; the designer brands which are being ripped off; the probation service, and charities supporting the vulnerable and exploited.
Detective Supt Blackwood said: "We are going very big. Our aim is to clear out criminality and provide safeguarding - for example by providing diversionary paths for drug users who are dependent on Cheetham Hill and Strangeways for their supply."
This time the police operation will not end with the confiscation of £1m of dodgy Lacoste, Valentino, and Armani clothing. GMP and their backers are in for the long haul to take out the Mr Bigs who are detached from the shops, but reap the benefits of their existence. "We will have a very robust approach. But we have got to clear the obvious stuff first. We have the time, and the resources, my first intention is to make that route feel better, so people can stay in that hotel and not be harassed when they go out."
