London on cusp of turf wars between rival drug-dealing gangs, warns Met

Gun battles could break out in London between rival gangs fighting over the sale of crack cocaine and heroin, the head of intelligence at Scotland Yard warned yesterday.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Mike Fuller said the capital was "on the cusp" of turf wars between Albanians, Turks, Chinese triads and Jamaicans. He said the gangs were involved in drug dealing, human trafficking and kidnapping.

Police are particularly worried because the foreign-based gangs have already shown they have access to firearms and are prepared to kill. There have been 18 murders this year involving "black on black" killings by British crack cocaine dealers and Jamaican "Yardie" gangsters.

Earlier this month Alisan Dogan, 43, a cleaner, was caught in the crossfire and shot dead when dozens of criminals staged a running battle in a busy shopping area of the Green Lanes, in Haringey, north London. The incident – which left four men with gunshot wounds – is thought to be connected to Turkish organised crime linked to the heroin trade. Members of the Kurdish separatist group PKK and a gang called the Bombers are believed to have clashed over protection racketeering on Green Lanes.

As part of the murder investigation, an AK47 assault rifle was seized on Tuesday by the Met's Turkish task force.

This growing potential for violence is worrying the police, who have information suggesting the different crime groups, who until now operated in their own, closely guarded sections of London, are starting to expand and look for new drugs markets.

The Met has brought in more firearms officers and specialist squads. Two police officers from Jamaica will be posted in London to help the Met to identify criminals from the Caribbean.

Mr Fuller said: "The fear is there will be a conflict between these groups.

"In terms of fighting it out on the streets ... we are on the cusp. [This] is what I'm being told. There is not only the threat from the criminals that are currently being targeted by Operation Trident. We now face new threats from Albanian, Turkish and south-east Asian organised crime groups.

"We are certainly up against very highly organised and very highly profitable multinational businesses, which prey on the weak, destroying individuals and families."

He was speaking at the launch of the Metropolitan Police drugs strategy for 2003 to 2006. It will focus on operations against traffickers in heroin and crack cocaine. It includes a greater emphasis on the seizure of assets from middle-ranking drug dealers and a push to encourage the referral of drug addicts for treatment.

The link between drug offences and crime was highlighted in a pilot scheme in Hackney last year. People over 18 who were arrested for offences such as theft, burglary, robbery and possession and supply of Class A drugs were tested for drug use.

Thirty-two per cent tested positive for cocaine, 7 per cent for opiates, including heroin, and 27 per cent for both. Only 34 per cent tested negative.