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DODGING BULLETS
How UK’s trendiest area is being terrorised by violent gangs who ‘don’t give a toss about cops and do what they want’
A shooting this week left a nine-year-old girl fighting for her life
GREEN spaces, an epic foodie scene and culture spilling round every corner have come to characterise Hackney in recent years - but a dark underbelly still prevails.
Violent thugs who "don't give a toss" about the cops continue to stifle the North London borough, which is considered Britain's trendiest area, it is claimed.
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Dr Simon Harding, Director of the National Centre for Gangs Research Ltd - speaking in light of Wednesday's shooting - says its streets are still being torn apart by gangs and organised crime groups whose reach extends across the planet.
A nine-year-old girl is still fighting for life in hospital after being gunned down at a Turkish restaurant in Dalston on Wednesday.
Three other men, aged 26, 37 and 42, were injured when a gunman on a motorbike opened fire with a hail of bullets around 9.20pm.
No arrests have yet been made.
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The underbelly of Hackney starkly contrasts to its gentrified areas in recent years.
The borough has more and more been characterised these days by an epic foodie scene, gorgeous green spaces, canal-side strolls and culture spilling onto every corner.
Speaking to The Sun, Dr Harding said there are "two different things going on" in northern half of the city when it comes to crime, which remains as prevalent as ever.
But this week's shooting is something of an anomaly, which he compared to the last worst public incident in which Green Lanes was hit with a machine gun battle.
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One is street gangs Dr Harding describes as "local boys of whatever ethnicity who come from housing estates".
"They represent their particular estate or ends. They get involved in street robbery, drug dealing, etcetera.
"It can be pretty violent, it can bring a lot of knife crime. But it tends to stay within those communities.
"Rival gangs fighting rival gangs. It is happening in Hackney and other boroughs of North London," he added.
However, "in addition" and what Dr Harding believes "appears to link" Wednesday's incident, is "organised crime groups".
"These operate at a higher level, quite often at a national or trans-national level," he said.
"This might relate to the transnational movement of drugs, such as Heroin."
He explained the "major importing route" of the Class A substance - also known as 'Smack' - is from Afghanistan or Pakistan, into Europe via Turkey and then into Britain.
Dr Harding said organised criminal groups from Turkey are "pretty well established" in the UK and have been for the last 30 years during which time they've "dominated the market".
"They've got a huge, multi-million pound market, that buys a lot of people, buys a lot of silence," he explained.
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"These are heavy, important people with access to firearms. They're shifting 200, 300, 400 million pounds worth of heroin.
"They're not going to take it lightly if you tread on their toes. People will disappear."
"The difference between organised crime groups and street gangs is street gangs are more visible.
"They're often younger people, ride around on electric scooters, BMX bikes..." he said.
"The street boys...don't really care. They don't give a toss about the Met, they do what they want."
And while Dr Harding admits organised crime gangs "have in the past broken out into fighting" it is rare for it to spill out into the public eye like it did on Wednesday because they "don't want publicity".
He said they are "really quite different", describing those involved as: "Older individuals, longer established, they quite often have businesses as a front."
He said they maybe involved in trafficking, running brothels and importing drugs "at a higher level".
They are also known to be "weaning on local business in an extortion racket".
"They don't want publicity, they try and keep their business under wraps," he continued, adding: "This shooting would be bad for business.
"You get that with any ethnic enclave.
"It is very unusual for their rivalry to appear public.";
That said, he added "one of the added challenges" with Turkish groups in North London is "that you have political elements that creep in", which could muddy the waters in terms of sticking to a code.
HACKNEY SHOOTING
Referring to the Hackney shooting specifically, Dr Harding said: "Something's happened, it is maybe between two rival groups, a breakdown in business, somebody is teaching someone a lesson, or someone has wanted to get at somebody.
"Information would have been passed up the line that a particular individual was at this particular address, or has been seen.
"People who are loyal to one group or the other will report that upline.
"Word would've got out that there should be some kind of action taken."
Dr Harding said normally such drastic action would be done in private, "it is rare for it to be a drive-by shooting".
However, he said such behaviour "has become more common" with street gangs.
"Hackney has seen a number of incidents over the years where rival street gangs have shot at each other," he continued.
"Is it a street gang? I don't think it is.
"I suspect in this case with the restaurant in Dalston it is more likely to be organised crime groups," Dr Harding said.
"There could be things that have happened off stage, outside Britain, that is perfectly possible."
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He continued: "It is no difficulty for these organised crime groups to source and access firearms because they have them all the time.
"It is much more tricky for street gang boys to do that... which is why we have high levels of knife crime."
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