Met Police makes 244 arrests in major licensing crackdown

The Metropolitan Police identified 289 licensing breaches and arrested 244 people in a 48-hour operation covering all 32 London boroughs.

Operation Condor, which began on 24 February, involved visits to some 2,838 premises. Twelve pubs and clubs were closed in the course of the evening for various different offences.

The police crackdown was designed to target a wide range of activities including:

• drug taking and other illegal activity inside pubs;
• the sale and consumption of alcohol in contravention of licensing laws;
• under-age sales of alcohol, cigarettes and knives;
• failure to correctly check the history of second hand goods for sale;
• driving licence fraud; and
• taxi touts.

The operation involved 3,000 officers as well as officials from local authorities, trading standards and Transport for London. Some 140 police cadets were involved in test purchasing for off-licenses.

The police said a large amount of counterfeit goods had been seized. These include: 750 bottles of alcohol in Tower Hamlets, 23 bottles of non duty paid vodka from Kingston; 41.1L of spirits, 100L vodka, 51L wine, 1/2kg tobacco in Ealing; 500 bottles of wine, 100 bottles of spirits, 8000 cigarettes resulting in £5,000 unpaid revenue being identified in Islington.

Commander Mak Chishty, who led the operation, said: "Licensing laws are there for good reason as they help protect us from danger. Breaking them is not acceptable. Operation Condor is about keeping our communities safe from harm.”

Kit Malthouse, deputy mayor for policing and crime in London, said: "Most criminal networks profit from illegal licensing, whether it's selling alcohol illegally or giving youngsters access to harmful weapons. Cracking down on this activity means we'll see a knock on effect of a drop in robberies, violence and anti social behaviour, which is good news for Londoners.”