Croydon Guardian reporter Harry Miller joins a massive police push to tackle gun violence in Croydon. He tells what happened.

I was riding in a car designated spotter five on Friday night, which was tasked with identifying and following cars flagged up by the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) vans as being linked to either gang, drug or firearms offences.

It was part of a massive armed contingent rolled out in response to a worrying development of gang violence, which led to the attempted murder of a man in Thornton Heath.

The ANPR vans were parked at strategic points in Thornton Heath and the Territorial Support Group, along with the CO19 armed officers, were poised to pounce from a call on the radio.

As we drove through the lively streets of Croydon the ANPR vans started to pick up numberplates known to the police.

The radio burst into life and we sped through the darkened streets of Croydon after a target vehicle.

As the car snaked through the back streets the decision was taken not to pull him over, as the conviction was from 2006 and deemed too old.

Later, as we made our way to the London Road, another call came in.

A car was being followed in Purley Way and the decision had been made by “Silver”, the code name for the top cop in charge of the operation, to make an armed stop of the car.

Territorial Support vans and CO19 armed response vehicles closed in on the car.

As it crossed Purley Way they made their move, and boxed in the car and its occupants.

Police armed with sub-machine guns and pistols ordered the driver and passengers out and a search was made of the car.

It was a staggering show of force, designed to show the gangs who the real hard men are in this ongoing war.

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