GUN crime in Greater Manchester has risen eight per cent in a year, new figures reveal.

Drug offences are also up, rocketing 24.7 per cent, largely due to a string of targeted raids on cannabis farms.

But, overall crime levels were down 11 per cent.

Offences to have fallen include criminal damage (down 12.8 per cent), domestic burglary (16.4 per cent), vehicle crime ( 21.5 per cent), robbery (16.3 per cent) and violence against the person (10.5 per cent).

Almost all the figures applied to July to September 2007, and were compared with the same period in 2006.

The exception was the gun crime figures, which applied to April to September, 2007, a period which saw a spate of high-profile gun incidents.

In April, 2007, Kamilah Peniston, 12, was shot dead by her elder brother Kasha. In June, two teenage boys suffered injuries after men in a car opened fire on them in Moss Side.

And in August a man ran into a woman's house in Chorlton-on-Medlock after being injured in a shooting. All data was released by Greater Manchester Police to coincide with similar comparable national figures released by the Home Office.

The national figures showed smaller reductions across England and Wales as a whole - with criminal damage down 11 per cent, domestic burglary by eight per cent, vehicle crime by six per cent, robbery by 17 per cent and violence against the person by 16 per cent.

Nationally, drug offences were up by 21 per cent and gun crime by four per cent.

Dave Thompson, GMP Assistant Chief Constable, said: "The figures show that we have achieved significant decreases in many key crime areas, resulting in 6,802 fewer victims.

"They also reflect the longer-term trend, which is showing that crime is falling and, from April to December this year, we also saw major cuts in crime with 25,316 less victims.

"Of particular note is the success we had over the Christmas period, when a number of high profile operations helped crime to drop by 11.5 per cent.

"There are, however, some areas that we have seen increases in, including drugs.

"This can largely be attributable to the high number of seizures made at cannabis farms under Operation Dragonfly, a major initiative we launched last year.

"These results show how hard our officers are working."

In Lancashire, gun crime rose one per cent; robbery was down by seven per cent, burglary down by 10 per cent and violent crime by 4.5 per cent.

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