Chris Kaba gang behind 10 London shootings this year, says Met chief

Sir Mark Rowley said the 67 gang has around 95 core members
Sir Mark Rowley said the 67 gang has around 95 core members - Jaimi Joy/Reuters

Chris Kaba’s criminal gang has been responsible for more than 10 shootings in London this year, the Met Commissioner has revealed.

Sir Mark Rowley said the 67 gang remained one of the most dangerous organised crime groups in the capital, responsible for a large amount of drug dealing and violence.

He said his officers had also rescued more than 10 children who were being exploited by the gang and forced to sell drugs.

Kaba, a core member, was shot dead by armed officer Sgt Martyn Blake after trying to ram his way out of a police roadblock in south London in September 2022.

It has since emerged that Kaba – who had served a prison sentence for firearms offences – gunned down a rival in a nightclub a week before his death and was also suspected of involvement in two other shootings.

Credit: CPS

Speaking at a plenary meeting of the London Assembly, Sir Mark said it was regrettable that Kaba had lost his life, but added that he had died because of the choices he had made when he was stopped by armed police.

He said it was clear that the gang of which Kaba was a member was responsible for a huge amount of gun violence in the capital.

Sir Mark said: “The 67 gang are a dangerous gang. They are among the most dangerous gangs in London. We reckon they have got about 95 core members.

“They are responsible for certainly into double figure shootings this year. That gang and our interventions against them and other gangs like them in London is always going to be really contentious.

“I wish, and I know that Martyn Blake wishes, that Chris Kaba’s behaviour hadn’t caused the confrontation it did on that night and he had spent the next 10 or 20-years in prison. Everyone would have wished that was the answer, but Chris Kaba made some choices that led to Martyn Blake feeling he had no choice but to do what he did.”

Sgt Blake was charged with murdering Kaba but cleared by a jury after a trial at the Old Bailey. Despite being acquitted of the criminal charge the officer could still face a gross misconduct charge, which could result in him losing his job.

It has since emerged that after Kaba’s death, gang members placed a £10,000 bounty on the head of Sgt Blake.

During a pre-trial hearing the Old Bailey was told that 67 was one of the “highest harm” organised crime networks in the capital.

Patrick Gibbs KC, the barrister who represented Sgt Blake, told a judge: “The currency of that gang was and is violence, group and individual violence using guns and knives.

“Their brand and their status depends as it always has on advertising and publicising their violent exploits and their currency is shootings, stabbings, targeted at particular individuals.

“Most of this for the usual reasons lie unprosecuted but of the iceberg the following is visible: In 2019 one member of 67 committed a murder and another member was himself stabbed to death and others were convicted of non-fatal revolver and shotgun offences.

“In 2021 another member of 67 was stabbed to death. In May last year members of 67 shot two people in a robbery.

“Members of the gang are currently acting and in self publicised conflict with others. The gang is affiliated as part of a wider gang network with similar groups in other boroughs.”

In 2017 Kaba himself was charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after shots were fired in the Canning Town area of east London.

He appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January 2019 where he was found guilty of possessing an imitation firearm.

He was sentenced to four years in a Young Offenders Institute but was released on licence in 2020.

Not long after his release, he was returned to jail after a knife was discovered in his car when he was stopped by police for driving without insurance.

He received an extra five months in custody because the offences were committed while he was still on licence.