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Teen fire charge brings gang arrests total to 49

PA Media A close up of a line of police offices in black Police Scotland branded jumpers and very bright yellow-green visibility vests. We can see a police radio in the foreground and the rest of the picture beyond the first officer is out of focus. We can see no faces.PA Media

Police investigating a spree of gangland violence across Glasgow and Edinburgh have made another arrest, bringing the total to 49.

The force said a 17-year-old had been charged over two deliberate fires at properties in Niddrie, Edinburgh in the early hours of Monday.

Officers arrested him on Tuesday and he will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date.

The gang probe, called Operation Portaledge, was launched in response to a series of assaults, shootings and firebombing incidents beginning in March.

Two rival crime families - the Daniels and Lyons - have been linked to the attacks.

There was intense speculation that the murders of two major figures in the Lyons group in Spain were the latest twist in that feud, but Police Scotland has said there is nothing to suggest this.

Officers have visited thousands of homes and stopped hundreds of vehicles in Scotland in their investigations.

Shots and fires in Niddrie

Among the earlier reports to police included shots being fired in Niddrie, where some of the violence has centred. Hours later more shots were reported on the other side of the city.

Then in April, a house was deliberately set on fire in Hay Drive, Niddrie, which spread to a neighbouring property.

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.
The property on Hay Drive which was targeted in April

Violence quickly moved west with more deliberate fires and serious assaults - one of which resulted in a 72-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy being taken to hospital.

They had been attacked at a house in Egilsay Crescent in Milton.

Last month, officers in the east were again called to a property on Marischal Crescent in the early hours 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.

The van has a melted front grille and a cracked windscreen. The registration plate is melted and hanging off.
The van went up in flames in the early hours last month

The two latest fires in Niddrie again took place on Marischal Crescent and Campion Road.

The last arrest in the Portaledge investigation was made on 18 June.

Many of the arrests have been men under the age of 30, including teenagers.

How the feud developed

  • A series of attacks began on 2 March when a car was set on fire in Edinburgh's Parrotshot area
  • A beauty salon in Leith and a garage in Portobello were also targeted over a 10-day period
  • Later, shots were reported as being fired at two properties in Niddrie and Pilton in separate incidents
  • Further firebomb attacks were reported on another house in Niddrie at the start of April, just as the first property in Glasgow was targeted in the Robroyston area
  • A carpet business in Bishopbriggs and another commercial premises in Kirkintilloch were also hit, alongside homes in Glasgow and Stepps
  • In April, a 72-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy were assaulted at a house in Egilsay Crescent in Milton, Glasgow
  • Two more properties in Bishopbriggs were set alight
  • Two men were taken to hospital following a serious assault at a garage in East Kilbride on 19 May
  • A 54-year-old man needed hospital treatment after he was attacked by a group of men at a house at Pitcairn Grove, Edinburgh - the third time an incident was reported at this property
  • A large house in the Bridge of Weir was set alight on 2 June
  • Police recover firearm believed to be linked to violence from Roseburn Path in Edinburgh on 11 June

Read the full timeline here.