Nine young men have been charged after 14 arrests were made during a series of police dawn raids aimed at cracking down on gangs in Newham.

The men, aged between 16-22 years, were arrested for various offences such as conspiracy to supply the Class A drugs heroin and crack cocaine, and aggravated burglary. Initially 10 men were arrested during the early morning raids last Wednesday but a total number arrested later reached fourteen.

More than 120 officers took part in the operation in the early hours of last Wednesday as eleven warrants were executed across the borough at 5.40am.

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Champion, of Trident Central Gangs Unit, said:

“The operation demonstrates that we will always act upon information given to us about those involved in gang-related criminal activity.

“We have been working with officers from Newham for the past six months and during that time we have executed a total of 55 warrants and made 120 arrests of which 103 are known gang members.

“This has resulted in a significant reduction of serious youth violence, gun and knife crime.”

The raids were led by 120 officers from Newham’s Gang Unit and Trident’s Central Gangs Unit, who were assisted by officers from the Met’s Territorial Support Group.

The operation was also supported by the MPS dogs unit, the Air Support Unit, SCO9 Financial Investigation Unit and local Safer Neighbourhood Team officers.