'We will kill you and burn your house': Council staff under attack from High Street gangs

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. 'We will kill you and burn your house': Council staff under attack from High Street gangs 36 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Ed Thomas , UK editor , Patrick Clahane and Rebecca Wearn Watch: Mandy explains how a gang targeted her and she ended up moving house A midnight phone call from a High Street crime gang, threatening to kill crime investigator Mandy and burn her house down, was just the start of a campaign of intimidation that would eventually force her and her husband to move home. She faced escalating threats from a Kurdish crime gang, that had been selling illegal cigarettes and nitrous oxide canisters in mini-marts across the UK. Groups of men repeatedly turned up at her front door and her car was rammed off the road twice.

Mandy is one of 24 Trading Standards officers who have shared details of the daily intimidation and violence they face from criminal gangs running mini-marts and vape shops, as they try to investigate unfair trading, illegal business activity and enforce consumer protection laws. In testimony shared exclusively with News, officers describe: Extreme threats - with one officer recounting a suspect in a shop shouting "I kill you, I kill you" and then threatening to rape a female officer Repeated sexual abuse - a female officer was "manhandled" and forced to watch pornography and another officer was "poked in the breast" Weapons being found in shops - including axes, bats, blades and hammers - and the discovery of a gun in a car connected to a business Attacks to officers' cars and property - with trackers put on their vehicles and reports of them being followed at work A car mounting a pavement "to run an officer over" Organised crime on High Streets has steadily increased over the past decade, according to professional body the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI). A recent survey sent to more than 2,000 of its members suggests that 96% of front-line teams now have to deal with it.

The Details

More than 70% of officers - who work for local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland, and more centrally in Northern Ireland - have faced threats of intimidation or violence, the survey found. In some areas, half of all mini-marts and vape shops, and up to a third of American candy stores are thought to have links to organised crime, the survey results also suggest. For the first time, the CTSI has also logged where it believes High Street crime gangs are operating most.

The data reveals criminality in big cities, but also in smaller towns - including Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, and Barry in South Wales - and even in villages. Mandy's new car was damaged on two occasions, she says The "alarming emergence" of organised crime is the "number one threat" facing our profession, says CTSI chief executive John Herriman. The UK government told us it was "working with the police, the National Crime Agency and Trading Standards to take the strongest possible action against these criminal businesses".

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.