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Gang members post shock pictures online
Images taken from Facebook of young gang members Avenham Young Defenders posing with guns/ammunition etc. Story Stef Hall
This is the moment a wannabe gangster makes a fool of himself online.
The baby faced moron, who boasts he is involved with Preston’s Avenham Young Defender’s group, has uploaded images of shotgun cartridges and bullets arranged to spell out the gang’s initials and a picture of himself brandishing a rifle on his Facebook page, along with a photograph of a pump action gun on a kitchen worktop.
The same photographs led to a police hunt and six arrests after they were discovered on a mobile phone last year.
They are among a catalogue of alarming items posted on Facebook pages by members of crime ‘gangs’ in Preston, who are increasingly taking to the internet to brag about their pathetic escapades.
Det Insp Ian Dawson, of Preston Police’s intelligence department, said: “We first became aware of the existence of these pictures in July 2009 and they have been in circulation since. The first arrests were made at that time.
“We have arrested at least six individuals aged 18 to 46 in relation to those pictures and searched eight addresses and open land in order to further the investigation and ascertain whether the weapon is real.
“This shows the zero tolerance lengths that Preston Police will go in order to identify locate and investigate firearms in the city.
“All the individual have been released without charge, pending further enquiries.”
Concerns have been sparked after it emerged another Facebook page, created by a gang in Broadgate, is being followed by hundreds of young people in the city.
The Broadgate Riot Squad - calling themselves a lewd name - have posted a profile photograph of 10 of the group wearing dark tracksuits and hooded jackets, making gun and gangster gestures.
Misguided young admirers have complimented them.
Another photograph, on one of the gang member’s pages, features 11 sneering yobs with dark hoodies congregating under a bridge in the city and posing for the camera as elderly members of public walk behind them.
Bragging criminals have also posted their own police mugshots and copies of Evening Post articles about members of the group getting CRASBOs banning them from Broadgate.
They make reference to a rival gang in the area, warning they are: “gonna get rolled over soon”.
The individuals also have their own pages.
A well known member of the same gang boasts he has cut his electronic tags off and another criminal voices his intention to flout police directions to stay off a local park.
Insp Jill Halliwell, of Preston Police, said: “The use of social networking sites is not illegal and people have responsibility to set up their own privacy levels. The vast majority of young people use social networking sites to speak to their friends. We are aware that such sites have been used for some young people to create networks of associates. A small minority of individuals have seen fit to “big themselves up” by creating artificial images.
“We do access social networking sites, often in response to on going enquiries or intelligence we receive about a particular group and this may give us an insight into their activity.”
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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