The SEVEN areas of Sheffield where police are having to crack down on gun crime

A new armed crime team set up last year in response to a rise in gun attacks in Sheffield is concentrating its efforts on seven areas of the city – Manor, Arbourthorne, Abbeydale, Nether Edge, Burngreave, Pitsmoor and Darnall.

South Yorkshire Police said the specialist team was set up ‘to deliver an enhanced investigative and intelligence gathering capability, as well as carrying out focused disruption activity to tackle gun crime’.

It works with Operation Fortify teams, which tackle organised crime, as well as a range of other teams including the Serious Violent Crime Taskforce, surveillance teams, neighbourhood teams and firearms officers.

It has also forged stronger links the National Ballistic Intelligence Service, regional forensic providers and the National Crime Agency.

In a report prepared for South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, South Yorkshire Police disclosed that 66 guns were seized by the force last year, and in the first four months of this year another 23 firearms were taken off the streets.

It has recorded a year on year increase in firearm recoveries since 2017, with a total of 225 seized over the last four and a half years.

South Yorkshire Police said that despite an increase in gun crime last year, there are signs of an improvement.

The force said: “In early 2020, South Yorkshire experienced an increase in firearms discharges across the county, with a notable increase in Sheffield.

“The majority of these offences are driven by the activity of organised crime groups involved in the supply of controlled drugs.”

It said armed crime team investigations have so far led to over 80 arrests linked to firearms offences and 30 search warrants were executed in the first four months of the year.

The force said the creation of the armed crime team and a ‘joined up approach’ to tackling gun crime has resulted in ‘coordinated proactive activity and prioritises place-based activity including patrol plans and warrant executions’.

The force added: “These areas have seen a large investment in visibility patrols and targeted proactive work in order to impact on those groups causing the most harm.

“The ACT has implemented a systematic approach to carry out weapons sweeps and open land searches in public spaces within those areas adversely affected by violent crime. Sheffield has seen 27 per cent decrease in the number of firearms discharges during the second half of 2020 compared to the first six months of that year.

“The downward trend is also reflected by a comparison of the first three months of 2020 against the first three months of 2021.”

There have been a number of serious shootings in Sheffield this year, including the murder of city solicitor Khurm Javed.

The 31-year-old, who was also known as Khuram and Khurram, was killed on Clough Road, close to Bramall Lane, on Saturday, April 10.

Samsul Mohamed, 18, of Wolseley Road, Heeley, has been charged with murder.

Mr Javed worked for London Road-based firm Alison Law Solicitors.

He was a married father-of-two.

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