Armed police raid house in connection with gang feud

Police searched a property on Firhill Drive in Edinburgh

Armed police have searched an Edinburgh home in connection with an ongoing gangland feud.

Officers executed a search warrant at a property in Firhill Drive in the Oxgangs area of the city on Saturday. Police Scotland said inquiries were ongoing.

It comes during a feud between rival criminal gangs which has seen firebomb attacks and physical violence in Glasgow and Edinburgh in recent weeks.

On Friday, three people - including a 17-year-old girl - were arrested and charged in connection with drugs and firearms offences after another raid in the capital.

Police have already executed a number of warrants in Edinburgh, Musselburgh and Leith during which four people were arrested.

Since March, assaults, shootings and fire-raisings in both cities have been treated as potentially linked, with videos of some fires posted online.

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

Earlier this week, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay urged the first minister to call a summit on the violence, rather than the forum John Swinney is hosting next week about tackling the far right.

Findlay said: "The latest explosion of violence in Glasgow and Edinburgh is directly linked to a drugs war that has been raging across Scotland since 2001, we're almost a quarter-of-a-century into this drugs war."

He said the "turf war" had already led to innocent civilians being caught up in the attacks on properties.

Meanwhile, Swinney praised police efforts to tackle the violence.

Speaking to Press Assocation, he said: "I welcome the steps that have been taken by Police Scotland to address the criminality that has been taking place.

"As I see it, the police are doing an excellent job in taking forward the circumstances that have got to be addressed."