Nottinghamshire Police’s Operation Encyclic has been unveiled after almost seven years, as part of a major police operation that spanned Manchester, Spain, and Dubai. The operation was focused on Craig Moran, a well-known figure in organised crime during the early 2000s when Nottingham was labelled as the “gun crime capital of the UK”. Moran was connected to an upsurge in firearms crime in the city from 2017, which was linked to drugs coming from Manchester via him.
However, a gangland dispute forced Moran to flee to Marbella in Spain, where he was attacked by rivals. After moving again, this time to Dubai, Moran was arrested and extradited in 2020 and has been convicted as part of the operation that saw a number of trials, the proceedings of which ended this month.
Before Moran’s involvement in the Manchester-Nottingham drugs and firearms operation, he started as part of a gang based in Nottingham’s Bestwood estate, which was unofficially run by Colin Gunn. Gunn’s group was responsible for numerous crimes leading to Nottingham being labelled as “assassination city” and “gun crime capital of the UK”. Moran was jailed for 13 years after plotting the armed raid at the Time Centre in Arnold, Nottinghamshire; he was released in April 2017.
The Operation Encyclic began in 2017 after a pump-action sawn-off shotgun was discovered in a raid on a house in Leybourne Drive in Bestwood. The firearm was found to have been used in Manchester and contained the DNA of Callum Sims, the cousin of Moran. The police operation escalated after gunshots were fired at four different locations in and around Bestwood between December 2017 and February 2018.
As a result of Moran’s activities, Nottinghamshire Police Assistant Chief Constable, Rob Griffin, identified Moran as a “gangster” who posed a significant threat to the public. The police discovered how Moran led a stereotypical gangster lifestyle and had no legitimate means of income. He drove an £80,000 Range Rover Sport which cost him over £1,200 a month to lease and made payments exclusively in cash.
The defendants convicted as part of the operation will be sentenced at a later date. ACC Griffin says organised crime has a devastating impact on the public and leaves scars on communities. “We will use all the investigative tools necessary to ensure we take their so-called drugs empires away from them,” he said
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