Firebombs and masked attacks – how a gangland feud escalated

Megan Bonar

BBC Scotland News

Watch: Moment houses set alight in overnight firebomb attacks

A feud between rival criminal gangs in Glasgow and Edinburgh has resulted in a series of assaults, shootings and firebombings in recent months.

A number of properties were set alight in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas in March before the attacks spread to the west at the beginning of April.

Those injured include a 72-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy, who were assaulted at a house in the Milton area of Glasgow, as well as a 54-year-old man who is seriously injured outside his home in Edinburgh.

Police Scotland has so far made 52 arrests as part of Operation Portaledge but its investigation into the seemingly tit-for-tat violence is ongoing.

A house damaged by fire. The house is made of white and yellow stone. The roof has caved in and is black with fire damage. In front of it is a green barrier and in front of that is a silver barrier with white and blue police tape attached.

A house in Hay Drive was badly damaged after being set on fire

Timeline of attacks

2 March: A car is set on fire in the Parrotshot area of Edinburgh in what is believed to be the first incident connected to the feud.

6 March: A beauty salon in the capital is the first building to be targeted after it was torched in the early hours of the morning.

16 March: A property in Milton Road East, Portobello, is set on fire.

20 and 21 March: Reports of shots being fired in Marischal Crescent, Niddrie. Five hours later, shots were also fired in West Pilton Bank, Edinburgh. Police confirmed the incidents were thought to be “linked to groups who are actively targeting each other”.

3 April: Raids are carried out raids on five houses in Edinburgh and Musselburgh. A number of items were seized including weapons, drugs and cash. Two men were arrested and charged with drugs offences.

4 April: A house on Hay Drive, in the Niddrie area, was targeted at about 01:20. The blaze quickly spread to a neighbouring property and both were badly damaged. Later that day detectives, supported by firearms officers, executed two additional firearms search warrants in the Leith area of Edinburgh.

Trouble moves west

3 April: A house was deliberately set on fire in Cortmalaw Gardens, in the Robroyston area of Glasgow.

4 April: A property in Milton Road, Kirkintilloch, is the next to be targeted.

7 April: Three homes are set alight within hours of each other in Gala Street and Ashgill Road, both Glasgow, and Meadow Court in Stepps.

8 April: A carpet business is torched in Bishopbriggs.

12 April: The feud turns violent after a 72-year-old and a 12-year-old boy are seriously assaulted at a house in Egilsay Crescent in Glasgow’s Milton, shortly after midnight.

14 April: Police confirm officers are investigating two fires in Bishopbriggs, one in Colston Drive and one in John Marshall Drive.

17 April: The feud appears to return to the capital after a house in Pitcairn Grove in the Craiglockhart area of Edinburgh is hit.

a house with red sandstone bricks has visible fire damage on the white door.

The most recent incident saw this property in John Marshall Drive, Bishopbriggs attacked

6 May: Two vehicles on Gorgie Road and a house on Bellenden Gardens in Liberton, Edinburgh, are set alight in the early hours.

7 May: A man is charged with attempted murder in connection with the Hay Drive fires in April.

8 May: Buildings associated with a taxi company on Cumbernauld Road, Stepps, are next to be targeted.

9 May: Armed officers raid properties in Barlanark, Maryhill, Hamiltonhill, Milton of Campsie and Wishaw. Six men are arrested for a range of crimes including conspiracy to murder and involvement in serious organised crime. Police also seized £46,000 and a quantity of class B drugs.

13 May: A fire-raising incident is reported at a house on Glasgow’s Drumchapel Road.

16 May: A car is set alight on Peacocktail Close in Edinburgh.

20 May: Two men, aged 41 and 45, are seriously assaulted at a garage in East Kilbride.

23 May: A 54-year-old man, David McMillan, is slashed at a property on Pitcairn Grove – the third time this address has been targeted. It is believed four or five men emerged from a Range Rover-type car which was later seen on the M8.

A car is black with soot. It has been burnt out. It's bonnet is flipped open and everything is black or melted. there is a red car in the background and white  houses.

A burnt out Range Rover could be seen behind police tape at Campion Road in Edinburgh

1 June: A large property in Bridge of Weir is firebombed.

6 June: Police confirm a total of 42 people have been arrested during investigations into the feud, which is named Operation Portaledge. Officers said more than 8,000 homes have been visited and over 1,600 vehicles stopped as part of the current investigation.

9 June: Officers are again called to a property on Niddrie Marischal Crescent at 03:55 after a Ford Transit van went up in flames. Five minutes later a Range Rover Evoque was found alight about half a mile away on Campion Road.

11 June: Police recover firearm believed to be linked to violence from Roseburn Path in Edinburgh.

12 June: A 41-year-old man is seriously injured on Scalpay Street in Glasgow’s Maryhill. Detectives said it was a targeted attack.

13 June: Police are called to an incident on Walter Scott Avenue in Edinburgh after the window of a property was damaged. Officers also confirm a further two arrests, bringing the total to 44.

16 June: A man appears in court charged in connection with the beauty salon on March – one of the first incidents in the current feud. Owen Logan, 26, was arrested after police raided a house in the Muirhouse Drive area of Edinburgh on June 14.

A police officer standing in a hi vis vest in front of a street with a police car

A house in Pitcairn Grove has been targeted multiple times in the feud

18 June: Detectives make a further four arrests – including two for the Pitcairn Grove murder bid – bringing the total to 48.

26 June: A 17-year-old is charged over two deliberate fires at properties in Niddrie, Edinburgh, in the early hours of 23 June. Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell later said the force was pursuing organised crime figures who are based abroad in connection with the ongoing feud.

27 June: Officers confirm the 50th arrest under Operation Portaledge. Yusef Duale, 18, appeared in court charged with wilful fire-raising, danger to life and attempted murder. The charges follow blazes at three properties in Edinburgh on 17 April.

3 July: A 22-year-old man is arrested for wilful fire-raising after vehicles were set alight on two Edinburgh streets last month. He was released pending further inquiries.

4 July: A third suspect, 49, is arrested in Blantyre for attempted murder after the attack on David McMillan. He is also charged with drug offences.

Spanish shootings

31 May: Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr are shot dead at Monaghans bar in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.

3 June: Police Scotland said the murders are not linked to the ongoing gang feud in Scotland and there was nothing to suggest they had been planned in Scotland.

14 June: Michael Riley, 44, is arrested in Liverpool on an international arrest warrant in connection with the shootings.

17 June: During a press conference in Malaga the Spanish National Police say Monaghan and Lyons Jnr were targeted by a professional killer from the Glasgow-based Daniel crime group.

Police Scotland later told BBC Scotland News it stood by its previous statement and added it had “no current evidence” to suggest the double shooting was “orchestrated from Scotland”.

4 July: Hundreds of mourners attend a joint funeral for Monaghan and Lyons Jnr at Bishopbriggs Crematorium in East Dunbartonshire.

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