The town gripped by 'Wild West' shootings as drugs gangs go to war (2025)

'We have got a grip on violent offending'

It is part of Oldham where four cotton mills once stood beside hundreds of homes to house their many workers. The mills are gone, and a new, illicit industry is taking over - drug dealing.

The area, police say, is gripped by entrenched crime families and dangerous, young trigger-happy gangsters. But that's about to change, they say.

Greater Manchester Police have vowed to take down the drug-dealing criminals who consider themselves 'untouchable' in the area of north Oldham, one of the most deprived in the town.

A huge operation has begun to tackle the fear and exploitation lighting hundreds of lives.

Police suspect cuckooing - where vulnerable people have their homes taken over by gangs to use for dealing and stashing drugs and weapons - is widespread.

They fear youngsters are being enticed into working for criminals on the promise of a 'reward' - expensive e-scooters. The catalyst for police action was a spate of shootings detectives believe were linked.

One was described by a senior detective as like a 'Wild West' shootout. GMP's Serious and Organised Crime Group have been working in the area for months.

Now officers from Operation Vulcan - launched in autumn 2022 - are focusing on Derker. They, and neighbourhood police will work with Oldham council and other agencies.

The wider force operation has led to the dismantling of counterfeit goods operations in Cheetham Hill and Strangeways, and cracked down on criminality in Piccadilly Gardens.

Police raids, stop searches, drug searches, crime prevention initiatives and, crucially, speaking to the community is Vulcan's approach. Cops have already started doing exactly that in Derker.

Police have already carried out 20 raids and arrested 26 people.

Det Supt Joe Harrop, head of GMP's Serious Organised Crime Group (SOCG), said he believes the action has 'put some suppression on a turf war', but added: "There are clearly other county lines. We need Vulcan support now to have a more established footing in the area to deal with the more sporadic, diverse, drugs criminality.

"I would say the Derker element are the younger people in the hierarchy. They are fairly new to crime and they are vying for position and they have got those well established or traditional criminal loyalties.

"They will tax each other. The younger elements are happy to discharge firearms in the street. That is what has caused a high-level of concern which is why you have our resources working hand in glove with Vulcan to sort it out.

"We have got a grip on violent offending."

Det Supt Jen Kelly, head of Operation Vulcan, said: "The aim is to show people there the criminality they are involved in... it cannot continue anymore. The community of Derker is suffering a lot of violent crime... anti-social behaviour.

"A lot of it is under-reported. There is a mindset that you don't report things to the police. We are being informed of stabbings, assaults and criminals taxing each other for drugs. The shootings are a prime example of what we cannot have happening on the streets of Derker.

"There is a criminal undercurrent where some people seem to control the streets and what is happening in and around Derker. There are individuals intent on committing crimes, plying their trade and causing disorder and upset for people who live there.

"What we are being told is that you have long-standing crime families who I believe feel untouchable. When we arrive they will know we are there. We are having zero-tolerance robust policing. Plus the local cops have great local knowledge and are invaluable to us.

"We will take their cars off the streets, seize their drugs, seize their e-bikes used in criminality."

Of those in Vulcan's sights, Det Supt Kelly said: "They stand out by the vehicles they drive... the manner of driving. The way they present themselves. But £3,000 e-bikes are getting distributed out to local kids like confetti. We stopped someone the other day with £8,000 in cash in their pocket.

"The kids who are riding the e-bikes are not buying them. What we want to understand is who is buying them, who is charging them and why they are giving them to the kids. We have no intelligence yet of child exploitation, but if we do, we have safeguarding teams in place. We need to prevent at all costs the possibility of children being used to deal drugs.

"Derker can be a lovely place. But we need to be more attractive to young people than drug dealing - that's the challenge. We need to know what the public are experiencing and what they want from us. We need regular feedback from them.

"I grew up in a community like Derker and I just feel that I would not like may family to be experiencing the level of criminality that they are. The Serious Organised Crime Group have done a brilliant job but my team want to be there for the aftermath. We need to make sure that voids are not filled by up and coming criminals - that people are not taking opportunities when some of the main players and the top-tier nominals have been taken out.