It's the shabby gateway to the city centre...but the face of Manchester's notorious crime street is changing
Over 50 years, the Strangeways district has evolved as the place to go for fake designer gear. Hooky clothing, counterfeit toys and illicit prescription drugs are all brazenly sold.
Operation Vulcan is GMP's answer to take down for good activities which have made one edge of the city centre infamous - and it has no time limit. In late October, Detective Supt Neil Blackwood, who is heading Operation Vulcan, told the M.E.N: "This comes directly from our Chief Constable. He has described Cheetham Hill as a place that is criminally hostile and he is not prepared to have that in his force area.
Is the crackdown effective? Now figures reveal the how the radical attempt to deliver a permanent solution is working. The last three months have seen 72 counterfeit shops shut down, 41 warrants executed, £258,000 recovered from the pockets of criminals, 76 arrests made, 35 vehicles and 257 tonnes of counterfeit goods with estimated value of £40m seized.
The quest to find the 'Mr Bigs' A key aim of Vulcan is to make sure police aren't just prosecuting the shop staff. They want to find the 'Mr Bigs' at the top of the chain, who carry clout and influence. "The way that Operation Vulcan is conceived, staffed and now deployed means that all layers of criminality will be targeted.
"At its heart, Operation Vulcan is a partnership effort, and while enforcement is an important part, real, sustainable change would not be possible without your help. The future phases of Operation Vulcan will see the investigation deepen as we begin to target those higher up the chain. As we know all too well, counterfeiting is just the tip of the iceberg."
The council argues the prison - HMP Manchester - is 'coming to the end of its natural lifespan' and is not suitable for the 'significant remodelling and expansion' needed to bring it up to modern-day standards.
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