PHOTOS: POLICE RAID LONDON, GUNS AND £150K SEIZED!

15 arrested with guns and cash seized in raids on notorious gang


Tommy Adams is escorted from his Clerkenwell home by police (picture: Metropolitan Police)

One of Britain’s most notorious criminals was detained at his £2million townhouse in raids across London which saw 15 arrested and the seizure of guns, cash and watches.


Around 200 officers took place in the operation yesterday (picture: Metropolitan Police)

Around 200 officers executed warrants at 22 addresses across the capital in the biggest coordinated and concerted operation to date against the infamous Clerkenwell-based Adams gang’s activities.

The Metropolitan Police said it wanted to ‘tackle them head on and hit them where it hurts most, by seizing their cash and assets’.

Sean ‘Tommy’ Adams, 57, was escorted from his Mylne Street home along with a 56-year-old woman. The father of four was jailed for seven years in 1998 for masterminding an £8million smuggling operation, and is thought to have established connections between his Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate and Colombian drug ‘cartels’.

The operation, codenamed Octopod, started on Tuesday night with officers seizing the contents of a safe deposit box in central London, recovering three high value watches and £25,000 in cash.


Shotguns and this handgun were among firearms recovered in the raid (picture: Metropolitan Police)

In yesterday’s raids a handgun and six shotguns, around £150,000 in cash as well as more expensive watches, financial correspondence, computers and phones.

A spokesman for the Met said in one property officers uncovered a concealed safe with around £100,000 tucked inside.

Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Manson of the MPS Specialist, Organised and Economic Crime Command, said: “We believe we have arrested members of the most long established and high profile crime gang in London.

“This was a painstaking investigation and a discreet operation run by specialist officers until today when the combined resources of the Met were deployed on the arrest phase of the operation.

Police said they wanted to hit the gang'where it hurts most, by seizing their cash and assets' picture: Metropolitan Police)

“The links between this gang and serious and violent crime are well documented as is their strong influence across London, and, we believe, connections to criminals across Britain and Europe.

“We believe they are responsible for a multi-million pound criminal business; laundering the profits from crime and using this money to commit other money-spinning offences.

“This is cash which can be used to fund further crime and provide luxurious lifestyles.

“For too long organised gangs have used advances in technology that have allowed them to hide their criminal gains and some even believe they can escape justice by bribing those who enforce the law.


Police discovered this safe full of around £100,000 in cash at the house (picture: Metropolitan Police)

“This operation and others like it are the Met’s response. Any criminal gang operating in London needs to know that we will tackle them head on and hit them where it hurts most, by seizing their cash and assets.”

Those arrested, who are being held at a central London Police Station while searches are ongoing, included people from Islington, Waltham Forest, Haringey, Barnet, Camden, Kilburn, Kent and Hertfordshire.

They were arrested on charges including suspicion of Money Laundering, fraud and conspiracy to assault.

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