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Two homes set on fire as gangland feud continues

Watch: Moment houses set alight in overnight firebomb attacks

Detectives are investigating whether deliberate fires at two houses in Bishopbriggs are the latest incidents connected to an ongoing gangland feud.

Police Scotland confirmed they were called to both fires in the East Dunbartonshire town's Colston Drive and John Marshall Drive at about 12:50.

A series of similar fires in Edinburgh and Glasgow in recent weeks have been linked to rival organised crime groups.

Police have also issued a warning over a "cowardly" attack on a 72-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy inside a house in Milton - again thought to be linked to the feud.

Two masked men forced their way into the property on Egilsay Crescent at about 00:10 on Saturday before carrying out the attack.

The woman and boy remain in hospital and are being treated for significant injuries.

Det Ch Supt David Ferry said: "While we believe these to be targeted attacks, I want to make it clear this violence will not be tolerated and we are following a number of lines of inquiry.

"To attack an elderly lady and a child is simply cowardly - no one should be made to feel unsafe in their own home."

Police are keen to speak to anyone who may have seen a large, dark family-style or SUV-type car in the area at the time of the attack.

Det Ch Supt Ferry told BBC Scotland News that while detectives are keeping an open mind, the assaults and the deliberate fires are being treated as connected.

Officers are exploring links to feuds in the east of the country.

A small grey bungalow type house with visible fire damage
Another property in Colston Drive was also targeted

Videos claiming to show the fires have been posted online alongside warnings naming families that have been linked to organised crime.

A number of houses and other properties have been set alight in recent weeks, with police confirming incidents in the east and west of Scotland were being treated as "potentially linked".

Six properties in the west of Scotland were targeted in the space of a week.

Three houses in Glasgow were set alight on 7 April, while a business premises also in Bishopbriggs was targeted the following day.

Last week Police Scotland scaled up its response to deliberate fires in Glasgow, which may be connected to several blazes and gun incidents in Edinburgh.

It comes after a number of arrests were made in the east over violent incidents. Officers have seized weapons, drugs and cash.

On Friday, Police Scotland confirmed it had visited more than 100 properties and was reviewing over 700 hours of CCTV footage.

Det Ch Supt Ferry vowed further arrests are imminent in the coming days and urged anyone with information to contact officers.

'Turf war'

A house with red sandstone bricks, with fire damage on the porch. There are two cars parked at the front.
Two properties in Bishopbriggs were set on fire, including one on John Marshall Drive

Scottish Conservative leader, Russell Findlay, who reported extensively on gang-related crime during his career as a journalist, said more needs to be done to tackle "gangsterism and organised crime".

He told BBC Scotland News: "What this boils down to is a turf war across the central belt. Trying to fight for control of territory, trying to fight for control of supremacy.

"The gangs involved are so depraved they have no sense of right or wrong whatsoever, we are now seeing women, children, elderly people, ill people targeted in their own homes. I think that illustrates how twisted they are.

"As far as I'm concerned this is the continuation of a drugs war that has raged across the central belt of Scotland since 2001."