A bus burns during the 2011 London riots. Photograph courtesy of VOA
Mark Duggan, the shooting of whom by police in August 2011 triggered the London riots, was part of a criminal gang and involved in gun and drug crime according to a senior police officer.
Duggan, 29, only had minor criminal convictions for cannabis possession and handling stolen goods, but Detective Chief Inspector Mick Foote described him as a man involved in serious organised crime. Whilst giving evidence at the central London inquest about the month’s leading up to Duggan’s death, Foote said:
“Intelligence over that period and historically was a clear indication Mark Duggan was involved in gun crime.
As well as gun crime, he was involved in supply of class A drugs and possession of ammunition – all of them very serious crimes.”
Foote alleged that intelligence showed that Duggan was a core member of the Tottenham Man Dem (TMD) gang which contained “48 of Europe’s most violent criminals”. However, there was no specific evidence against Duggan upon which the police could act until the summer of 2011, when they received reports that he was looking to acquire a gun and was storing drugs at his home.
After receiving reports that Duggan had acquired a gun, the police attempted to apprehend him on 4th August, the action when resulted in the shooting of Duggan by police officers. A gun was found in a sock over a fence a few metres away from Duggan’s car, and whilst there has been speculation of the gun being planted by police and/or an informer, Foote described the idea as “absolutely ridiculous”.
