Five more arrests in gang feud investigation

Forensic officers carried out inquiries outside a house on Pitcairn Grove in Edinburgh after an attack on 22 May

Police have arrested and charged a further five people in connection with investigations into a suspected gang feud across central Scotland.

Police said a 55-year-old man was arrested and charged in September in connection with an alleged serious assault on Pitcairn Grove in Edinburgh on 22 May.

Two men, aged 40 and 39, were also arrested and charged on 28 October in connection with an alleged theft by housebreaking at a property on Mortonhall Park Place in Edinburgh on 18 March.

A total of 62 people have now been arrested as part of Operation Portaledge - the police operation set up to investigate the spate of violent incidents.

Police also confirmed they executed a warrant at a property on Margaret Thomson Crescent in Edinburgh on 1 September and seized a firearm and drugs.

A 19-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man were arrested and charged as a result.

Police said that both appeared in court last month.

Two men, aged 20 and 26, have previously been charged with attempted murder of businessman David McMillan in Pitcairn Grove, Edinburgh.

The gangland feud has led to assaults, shootings and fire bombings across the east and west of Scotland.

The arrests were made as part of Police Scotland's Operation Portaledge which was launched in response to a series of violent incidents since March.

A Scottish man currently based in Dubai is alleged to have started the feud by targeting a crime group led by convicted cocaine dealer Mark Richardson, who is currently in jail.

The attacks later spread across the west of Scotland where there has been rivalry and violence between the Daniel and the Lyons families dating back more than 20 years.

Violence raged through Glasgow and Edinburgh during the first half of the year, but incidents appear to have calmed down.

Several people with links to the Daniel family are said to have been targeted during the wave of attacks.

On 31 May, two prominent figures in the Lyons crime group, Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan, were shot dead at a bar in Spain.

Police Scotland has said there is no evidence to suggest that shooting was planned from Scotland.

A number of high-profile gangland figures were arrested in Dubai in September, but have since been released.