Police in Scotland make 50th arrest in gangland feud

Detectives investigating a gangland feud that has led to assaults, shootings and fire bombings across the east and west of Scotland have made a 50th arrest.

Yusef Duale, 18, has been charged with wilful fire-raising, danger to life and attempted murder following blazes at three properties in Edinburgh.

The addresses in Pitcairn Grove, Prestonfield Crescent and Niddrie Marischal Crescent were all targeted on 17 April.

Duale, of Liverpool, made no plea and was released on bail following a private appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

The investigation, called Operation Portaledge, was launched in response to a series of violent incidents since March.

Police Scotland chief constable, Jo Farrell, said the force was pursuing crime group leaders based abroad over the feud.

Two rival crime families - the Daniels and Lyons - have been linked to the attacks.

Last month Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46, and Ross Monaghan, 43, were shot dead at a bar in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.

Both men were senior figures in the Lyons crime group and there was speculation the Spain shootings were linked to the tit-for-tat attacks in Scotland.

But three days after the murders Police Scotland said they were not aware of any evidence connecting them to the feud.

The force later maintained its position after a Spanish detective said the suspect, who will face an extradition hearing in October, was a member of the Daniel group.

Officers have visited thousands of homes and stopped hundreds of vehicles in Scotland as part of their investigations.

Among the incidents shots were fired in Niddrie, where some of the violence has centred.

Hours later more shots were reported on the other side of the city.

Then in April, a house was deliberately set on fire in Hay Drive, Niddrie, which spread to a neighbouring property.

The violence quickly moved west with more deliberate fires and serious assaults - one of which resulted in a 72-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy being taken to hospital.

They were attacked at a house in Egilsay Crescent in Glasgows Milton.

Last month, officers in the east were again called to a property on Marischal Crescent in the early hours after a Ford Transit van went up in flames.

Five minutes later a Range Rover Evoque was found alight about half a mile away on Campion Road.

Many of the arrests have been men under the age of 30, including teenagers.

Read the full timeline here.