On Wednesday 23 September 2026, Police Scotland carried out simultaneous early-morning raids across Aberdeen, Dundee, Falkirk, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, deploying about 300 officers against a Vietnamese organised crime group.[1][2] The force arrested 36 people and found 14 cannabis-growing operations, serving 35 warrants at 47 addresses; arrests were also made in Birmingham with help from immigration and tax officers.[1][2]

Detectives linked the group to human trafficking, cannabis production, fraud and immigration crime after earlier work connected Vietnamese offenders to a large share of Scotland’s indoor cannabis farms.[2] In one Edinburgh flat near a busy police station, officers forced entry to rooms filled with plants behind tarpaulin screens; in Dundee, growers had extended cultivation into a shared loft between two flats.[2] Potential trafficking victims were recovered from several addresses, and investigators said they would examine phones and paperwork to separate organisers from exploited workers.[1][2] Chief Constable Jo Farrell told the Scottish Police Authority board that the operation was the largest coordinated human-trafficking deployment Police Scotland had run and thanked partner agencies.[3]