Ecstasy
At a Scottish drugs conference last year, an RUC officer told delegates that up to 60 per
cent of the funding for Loyalist paramilitaries, such as the Ulster Defence Force and Ulster
Volunteer Force, now come from drugs. Couriers, he claimed, make regular trips to Scotland to
collect and deliver drugs.
Meanwhile, the RUC considers the IRA-backed Direct Action Against
Drugs to be no more than a front, which executes known dealers, not out of some sense of social
obligation, but to eliminate the competition. The important question is, as the IRA tighten
their grip on Northern Ireland's drug scene - ceasefire or not - will Irish dealers move into
the mainland market?
Smuggling
Hand grenades, rocket launchers, lead ingots full of Class As: the strange world of the
professional drug smuggler
The ingenuity of drug smugglers should never be underestimated. The majority of the E brought
into Britain is brought in by Dutch nationals, although there are many other nationalities
involved. At the professional level, E packaged in freight, private vehicles and
about-the-courier's-person are the most common methods. There is some postal importation
as well, although all foreign mail undergoes checks. Quantities can be anything from two
to 100 kilos.
Opportunists are, apparently, rare, though occasionally customs do pick up
weekend smokers who've returned from Amsterdam with a few Es in their pocket.
But these bare bones hardly do justice to the complex methods employed. At the simplest
level, syndicates will bring on board a businessman who regularly deals in exports. In
other cases, a gang might buy a haulage firm and spend time specially converting vehicles.
Where there's sufficient money to be made, there's no end to the technological and
organisational lengths people will go to to smuggle drugs.
UK drug smuggler Curtis Warren is now serving 12 years in a Dutch jail, after he was
arrested in connection with the importation of 800kg of cocaine into Holland. When he
and his gang were picked up, they were in possession of grenades, automatic weapons and
1,500kg of heroin and 50kg of ecstasy. Twelve years ago Warren had been running on the streets
of Toxteth, Liverpool, largely unnoticed. Eventually, he would deal direct with the biggest
drug producers in the world, dealing in shipments of nearly £100 million.
Ecstasy continue