Undercover video: Huge blitz on drug pushers in Sheffield's gangland

For the past 18 months, undercover police officers have been infiltrating drug gangs in the city to gather information on the main perpetrators.

The arrest phase of the operation, codenamed Mach, was launched on Monday but details were kept under wraps until now to prevent other suspects fleeing.

Each day this week, huge teams of police officers have carried out co-ordinated dawn raids across the city, mainly in "sensitive" areas associated with gang warfare.

In the first three days of the operation, 43 suspects were arrested – some as young as 14.

Superintendent Peter Norman, who is heading Operation Mach, said he hoped to have arrested 60 people by the end of today and up to 100 by the end of next week.

He decided to launch the crackdown after the murders of teenagers Tarek Chaiboub and Jonathan Matondo, who were both shot dead in disputes involving so-called "postcode" gangs.

Mr Norman said: "Operation Mach has been running since September 2009 and has involved the deployment of undercover officers from all over the country into Sheffield, to find out about gang-related activity and the supply of controlled drugs.

"What we want to do is take away self-professed role models that young kids in deprived areas look up to. The young kids that we're working with find it really hard to keep on the straight and narrow. This operation is part of a wider strategy that aims to ensure young people in Sheffield manage to achieve their ambitions and reach their full potential.

"We want to remove people that are blockages to making Sheffield a safer place."

Of the 43 people arrested this week, five were released on police bail and two were released without charge. Eight youths and 36 adults have been charged with drug offences.

Mr Norman said his main aims were to cut the levels of "serious youth violence" in Sheffield and also divert those at risk of becoming involved in crime.

Some undercover police officers have been attacked and others were threatened with violence as they infiltrated the different drugs gangs operating in Sheffield.

"It's been a painstaking project to eventually become trusted by all these little businesses," Mr Norman said.

"The evidence we have against these people is brilliant and should be overwhelming.

"We're hoping there should be a lot of guilty pleas and some tough sentences handed out, to send out a strong message."

The raids were scheduled to be carried out in January, Mr Norman said, because fewer people should be on the streets because of the dark mornings and cold weather.

"We've been going into certain areas which are sensitive and where there's a risk of some public disorder – people throwing things at the police, turning cars over and setting fire to them, things like that.

"Street dealers attract drug users and this unwanted combination brings with it anti-social behaviour and violence that undoubtedly affects a disproportionate number of local residents and young people.

"My message is clear. If you think you are safe to deal drugs or be involved in gang-related crime in South Yorkshire, you're not.

"If you think communities will tolerate you, they won't. If you think people won't tell us who you are, they do. Drugs and violence ruin lives. We will never tolerate it and we will arrest you wherever and whenever we can."