Police Scotland arrests 36 in 'biggest ever human trafficking crackdown' as Vietnamese gang's cannabis empire is smashed
From the Newshound archive · first published 24 September 2026.
One of the fourteen cannabis farms shut down by Operation Kendrew, which saw 300 officers raid 47 properties across Scotland and Birmingham, rescuing trafficking victims forced to work by a Vietnamese crime gang.
Operation Kendrew deployed 300 officers in simultaneous dawn raids on 47 properties across Scotland and Birmingham, dismantling what Detective Superintendent Stevie Bertram called the most coordinated human trafficking operation Police Scotland has ever mounted. The Vietnamese crime gang is suspected of trafficking victims and forcing them to work on cannabis farms that generated millions in criminal profits. Bertram said every key target had been arrested and that the organisation 'won't be able to function'.
Fourteen cannabis farms were shut down and trafficking victims rescued from several of the 47 raided addresses across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Falkirk and Dundee.
Investigators are looking at the gang's role in human trafficking, forced labour, drug cultivation, and a range of financial and immigration offences spanning the UK and beyond.
