Around 200 police officers have taken part in a massive policing operation targeting a suspected organised crime group (OCG) reported to have held a neighbourhood under its “reign”.
Pre-dawn raids struck simultaneously at around 6am on Wednesday - the 14 warrants timed to prevent word spreading of the crackdown before suspects could react. The OCG was reported to be so tightly knit that some properties were even next door or next door but one to each other in the cul-de-sacs of Murdishaw, Runcorn.
Eleven warrants were in Runcorn, one in Widnes and two in Merseyside, with a core set of eight primary targets, potentially rising to around 16 arrests in all. Operation Raid focused on the Murdishaw estate, where police said the OCG believed itself to be “untouchable” and where it is alleged to have controlled Class A and B drug supply.
