Police arrest 36 in raids on Vietnamese crime gangs linked to human trafficking

One of Scotland's biggest police operations has targeted a Vietnamese organised crime group linked to human trafficking and cannabis farms.

About 300 officers took part in simultaneous early-morning raids, leading to the arrest of 36 people and the discovery of 14 cannabis-growing operations.

In total, police searched or checked 47 addresses in Aberdeen, Dundee, Falkirk, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders.

Police Scotland allege the gang is involved in "poly-criminality," including human trafficking, drug production, fraud, money laundering and organised immigration crime.

The force says the activities first came to light after Vietnamese criminals were connected to 150 cannabis farms discovered in Scotland last year.

Around 120 people had been arrested - so-called "gardeners"- and drugs worth £26m were seized.

Subsequent inquiries linked a single Vietnamese crime group to about a third of the farms, with months of planning leading up to Wednesday's raids.

Det Supt Stevie Bertram said: "This was by far the biggest human trafficking investigation that Police Scotland has ever run.

"We wanted to disrupt and absolutely cripple that organisation.

"We wanted to do it all in one day and I think it's been a huge success. Essentially, they won't be able to function.

"All of the targets of this operation have been arrested and they are the ones we believe are running that operation."

Police Scotland officers arrested individuals in Birmingham as part of Wednesday's enforcement action, which was carried out with support from Home Office Immigration Enforcement and His Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

"We think the group runs across the UK and internationally," said Bertram.

"We've met with regional crime teams from up and down England and Wales and Ireland, to look at what's happening across the country."

Officers from the National Crime Agency based in Hanoi have been liaising with the authorities in Vietnam.

The addresses raided by the police included a tenement flat in Edinburgh's South Clerk Street, a five-minute walk from one of the capital's busiest police stations.

Three rooms were crammed with plants growing behind tarpaulin screens under bright lights.

A box of seedlings was discovered in the kitchen. There were signs of occupation, though no-one was in the flat when the police forced entry.

In Dundee, a cannabis operation discovered in two neighbouring flats had been extended into a shared loft.

The police will now try to establish whether the people arrested include victims of human trafficking.

"Vietnamese nationals are still the highest nationality that we see being exploited in Scotland" said Bertram.

"A lot of hard work and investigation will go on from today.

"We'll examine mobiles, data, paperwork to make sure that if there is a victim of human trafficking, they're quickly identified as a victim."