Seven arrested including three on Hammersmith Grove

Property recovered from dawn raids

Police have executed eleven warrants across London this morning (24 February) including three in Hammersmith and two in Shepherd’s Bush in a series of coordinated dawn raids against organised crime.

So far six men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft. Officers have recovered suspected stolen phones, laptops and other property; shotgun cartridges were recovered in Hammersmith. A man and a woman were arrested on Hammersmith Grove for possession of class A drugs. A 34-year-old man was also arrested on Hammersmith Grove on suspicion of Conspiracy to Commit Theft.

The Operation - codenamed Goldspark - began last month when Kensington and Chelsea police began investigating a theft from a motor vehicle in High Street Kensington. The arrest of a man for this offence led to the identification of a small market stall that had been receiving stolen goods.

A warrant was executed at the market stall - and the arrest of a 31 -year-old man and a search of a residential address in Surbiton led to the recovery of mobile phones and other computer equipment reported stolen. As a result of ongoing enquiries further suspects have been identified which have led to the arrests today.

Officers from Kensington and Chelsea Borough, Hammersmith and Fulham Borough and the City of London executed warrants across west London. Eleven search warrants were executed at three locations in Hammersmith, two in Shepherds Bush and Notting Hill, as well as properties inNorth Kensington, Teddington and Surbiton. The locations included residential addresses and market stalls.

Detective Superintendent Raffaele D'Orsi, from Kensington and Chelsea Borough, said: "Today's arrests of these men involved in this volume area of criminality are the fruition of excellent investigative work by my officers supported by colleagues across the Met and City of London. The Met is clear that although there is an 18% reduction in MOPAC crimes across London we will continue to target those individuals who individually or as part of an organisation target others possessions.

"Whilst we seek the public's assistance with information about those involved in the receipt or selling of stolen goods. I would also seek to caution them that 'if the deal they are thinking of buying or have been offered appears 'too good to be true' it invariably is and means that the property being offered for sale is either a fake or stolen. Buying either can be an offence."

All were taken into custody at South London police stations where they remain at this time.

February 24, 2016