These are the dramatic scenes as police officers raid homes across the north-east to “send a message” to English crime groups.
Officers from as far afield as Elgin descended on Fraserburgh and Peterhead yesterday morning to take part in a massive operation aimed at firing a warning shot to cross-border drug suppliers.
More than 30 cops, wearing body armour and assisted by dogs, executed 16 search warrants in the port towns to stamp out organised criminal groups working within the neighbouring communities.
By the afternoon, 10 people had been charged with drug offences, with more expected to follow overnight.
Around £1,600 cash was seized.
The raids were part of the police’s ongoing efforts to detect and disrupt drug crime across the whole of Aberdeenshire – dubbed Operation Aspen.
Suspected dealers in Fraserburgh were the first to be locked up in the early hours of Thursday morning, before the raids began in earnest at 8am.
By then, however, many of the homes were already prepared for the police’s arrival.
“You’ll often find these people are still in their beds at this time,” Detective Inspector Stuart McAdam, who was spearheading the operation, said.
But as soon as one door is busted, the inspector added at the doorstep of a home in Commerce Street, the news of police raids spreads fast.
Throughout the day, cars were swapped between officers to ferry alleged dealers and suppliers to Fraserburgh’s police office to be processed.
And in one incident, that left the inspector walking back to the station.
Mr McAdam has been in the job for 12 months, having come through the ranks of the criminal investigation department.
He has been with the police for 18 years in total.
He said: “Today, we are hoping to detect the people involved with organised crime.
“But disruption is a major factor as well.
“We’ve had an influx of information lately about people coming up from the north-west of England.
“The problem is, they’re not always here. They’re transient criminals, so there’s always a plea for the public to help.”
At Dennyduff Road, where officers smashed through a living room window to gain access to a property, and at Charlotte Street, where an officer had to contend with a makeshift barricade to break down a door, neighbours peered out from behind curtains.
One even joked that the police’s ram – a weighted, red rod used to batter down front doors – was “some size of key”.
“They’re invaluable,” Mr McAdam said of the public.
“We rely on intelligence from the public, and the community needs to stick together and tell the police about individuals.
“There’s always a pressure when we have people from outwith the area impacting on our communities. They come with a threat of violence and they are purely here to make money at the detriment of vulnerable people.
“But the north-west of England impacts across Scotland. We’re not alone in that – it’s a known supply route for drugs. This is the first phase of dealing with that.”
Officers moved to Peterhead in the afternoon to carry out further raids.
Uniformed pairs also patrolled the streets, advising locals to be vigilant.
At financial businesses, including banks and pawn shops, the message was to be on the look out for suspicious people with accents from the north-west of England, including Liverpool, who may be transferring or handling large sums of money.
“The north-east is still a very safe place to live,” Mr McAdam added.
“This has been a very robust approach taken towards these individuals today.
“We want to make this area as hostile as possible for those people. Today, we have shown that we will use whatever means are the most appropriate and most effective – we are willing to barrage these people with resources from specialist departments and teams.
“A part of that is working with the finance industry. These groups will be making a large amount of money and will be transferring it through banks.”
One woman who was raided in the Fraserburgh area yesterday, and who had secured her front door with several large wooden stilts to make it difficult for anyone to gain access, screamed that she was innocent as she was escorted out of her home.
All of the people who were charged are expected to appear in court today.
Some will be released pending further inquiries.
As part of Operation Aspen, 200 arrests have already been made in the past 12 months.
