Vehicles set on fire as police probe links to gang feud

Police are investigating whether two vehicles which were set alight in Edinburgh are linked to an ongoing gangland feud.

Emergency services were called to a property on Niddrie Marischal Crescent at 03:55 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, and the vehicle was also destroyed by fire.

Both incidents are being treated as suspicious.

Detectives said they were keeping an “open mind” on whether the incidents are connected to a gang war which began in the east of Scotland in March and later spread to the west.

A property in Campion Road was previously damaged on Saturday 10 May. A 23-year-old man has been charged in connection with that incident.

There have also been previous incidents in Niddrie Marischal Crescent including one in March believed to involve a gun.

Police Scotland launched Operation Portaledge in response to the upsurge in gang-related attacks.

So far 42 arrests have been made, 8,000 homes have been visited and over 1,600 vehicles stopped as part of the investigation.

Just over a week ago, two men linked to the Lyons crime group, Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan, were shot dead at a bar on the Costa Del Sol, but officers have said they have no information suggesting this was planned from Scotland.