Three charged with firearms offences after Edinburgh raid

Three people have been charged in connection with drugs and firearms offences in a raid on a house in Edinburgh.

Officers seized “a number of weapons” including a firearm and several mobile phones during a raid on a flat in Crewe Road Gardens in the Pilton area of Edinburgh on Thursday.

Police Scotland said “extensive inquiries” were ongoing and said the incident is part of their investigations into recent crimes in the east and west of the country.

Two men aged 41 and 61 and a 17-year-old girl are scheduled to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Saturday.

The arrests come in the middle of a number of gang-related incidents in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Since March, assaults, shootings and fire-raisings in both cities have been treated as potentially linked to a number of alleged gang-related incidents, with videos of some fires posted online.

In one week alone in April, six addresses were targeted in Glasgow and surrounding neighbourhoods.

Officers are investigating whether a deliberate fire at a house in Craiglockhart on Thursday is connected to the dispute between rival gangs.

In a statement about the latest arrests, Det Ch Supt David Ferry of Police Scotland’s specialist crime division, said a “visible police presence” would remain in Pilton for a period.

He added: “I want to reassure the community that extensive enquiries are ongoing into this as part of our investigation into recent incidents in the east and west of the country.

“If you have any information that can assist our investigation, please get in touch.”

The unrest began on 2 March after a car was set on fire in Parrotshot, near The Jewel.

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.

Last week, a 72-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy were assaulted at a house in Egilsay Crescent in Milton, Glasgow.

Police said inquiries into that incident were ongoing.