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Ireland: Loyalists Cash In On Heroin Glut
Irish Examiner ^ | Oct. 22, 2001

Posted on 10/23/2001 4:55:37 AM PDT by Wolfie

LOYALISTS CASH IN ON HEROIN GLUT

LOYALIST terror bosses are set to bankroll a drugs epidemic in the North, with towns and villages flooded with heroin at just one pound a fix.

Police believe UFF and LVF warlords have already cut a deal with drugs gangs in Scotland to cash in on a worldwide glut of the deadly narcotic.

It's estimated that 90% of heroin sold in Britain is produced from opium grown in Afghanistan, where the harvest has more than doubled this year.

More than 4,600 tonnes of the drug is available, and dealers around the globe know they can slash their own prices and still make millions in addicting a new generation.

Police working on counter-drugs operations have spent months probing the links between loyalist paramilitaries and heroin traffickers in Scotland.

They have now drawn solid connections between the supply line and two loyalist paramilitary organisations. And they believe the drugs racketeering is being sanctioned by senior figures in each group.

The UFF has formally denied that caged boss Johnny Adair had anything to do with drugs, despite RUC sources' view that he is fully aware of what is going on. Last week, it was alleged that he would make himself available for drugs tests under a new regime at Maghaberry Prison, because he is set against the use of narcotics and has never taken them.

But RUC sources are insisting that the links to the darkest reaches of the Scottish drugs scene run deep into paramilitary veins in the North.

Those same murky links, and the supply line down through which the drugs are filtered, were also being investigated by Sunday World journalist Martin O'Hagan, when he was ruthlessly gunned down by LVF killers near his home in Lurgan last month.

Police have been forced to act because of the dramatic rise in heroin use. In north Down, there are an estimated 400 addicts and a rising death toll.

Undercover police know that one of the main drug routes is through Liverpool, with the deadly cargo of death being ferried via a number of Scottish towns to drop points along the rugged Northern coastline.

One senior RUC officer, who has witnessed the terrifying effects of spiralling drug use at first hand, said: "those with loyalist paramilitary links control about 80 percent of the drugs trade here and reap the benefits without getting their hands dirty.

"The impact of heroin at knockdown prices on our streets could create anything up to 10,000 new addicts. When you have dragged kids who have taken overdoses out of pub toilets and alleyways, you realise there has to be a well-funded multi-agency and community approach to this problem. If it takes off, we are facing a nightmare," he added.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 10/23/2001 4:55:37 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Wolfie
The UFF and LVF should be blown to Hell along with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Scum.

2 posted on 10/23/2001 4:58:13 AM PDT by maquiladora
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To: Wolfie
It's estimated that 90% of heroin sold in Britain is produced from opium grown in Afghanistan, where the harvest has more than doubled this year.

Police working on counter-drugs operations have spent months probing the links between loyalist paramilitaries and heroin traffickers in Scotland.

How long until someone posts a response to the effect that they heard a story from their brother's boss' nephew's best friend about how the IRA was helping the Nazis 60 years ago, as proof that the findings in this article are not true?

3 posted on 10/23/2001 5:11:23 AM PDT by Wm Bach
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To: Wm Bach
You know the tune - "The bad(good)guys are doing it, so the good(bad) guys might as well get in on the action". Nobody's hands are clean, so nobody makes too much of a fuss.
4 posted on 10/23/2001 5:20:34 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Wm Bach
FYI, the "loyalists" in question, as well as their Scots friends, are Protestants, not the IRA.

Incidentally, this stuff is almost certainly coming in courtesy of clinton's good Muslim Albanian buddies, who run the drug pipeline from Asia to Europe. After he let his drug-running friends back into Kosovo, the drug supply to Europe was said to have shot up immediately.

5 posted on 10/23/2001 5:59:05 AM PDT by Cicero
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To: Wolfie
No better way to relax after a day of throwing blast bombs, urine balloons and dog excrement at little catholic schoolgirls than to go to the local loyalist hood for your heroin fix.
6 posted on 10/23/2001 6:02:15 AM PDT by Colosis
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To: Wolfie
To be fair, it should be noted that the IRA also runs dope to finance its operations. I suppose a distribution war is about to begin in Belfast, under the pretences of religious strife and politics. "Round'em all up."
7 posted on 10/23/2001 6:11:48 AM PDT by Ironword
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: Colosis
No better way to relax after a day of throwing blast bombs, urine balloons and dog excrement at little catholic schoolgirls than to go to the local loyalist hood for your heroin fix.

There's no mention of the terrorists acutally being drug users. THAT would make them genuinely bad people.

10 posted on 10/23/2001 6:44:56 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Bold Fenian
No intent of dishonesty: as I've read, the IRA runs fuel, livestock, cigarettes, booze, and dope.

What do you think the Colombia Three were going to be paid with for their services?

11 posted on 10/23/2001 7:15:42 AM PDT by Ironword
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To: Ironword
Quite right. They are all birds of a feather. Indeed they've been known to do 'the business' together.

The republican apologists here like to keep their heads where the sun don't shine!!

13 posted on 10/23/2001 1:24:40 PM PDT by Norn Iron
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To: Bold Fenian
Sinn-Fein/IRA 'eliminates' those drug runners on its patch that don't cough up.
14 posted on 10/23/2001 1:26:30 PM PDT by Norn Iron
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To: Bold Fenian
The record of convictions is related to the level of prosecutions. Don't expect too many of the latter when the authorities turn a blind eye!!
15 posted on 10/23/2001 1:28:28 PM PDT by Norn Iron
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To: Ironword
The Bin Laden network had a base in Dublin called MIRA. Perhaps a few poppies passed through this channel!!
16 posted on 10/23/2001 1:30:36 PM PDT by Norn Iron
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To: Ironword
they also smuggle electronics to get around that VAT.

And you thought the democrats were good at scamming us with taxes!

17 posted on 10/23/2001 1:42:36 PM PDT by KneelBeforeZod
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who here knows what country the IRA started in?

BTW I'm a 100% verified descendant of Robert Lundy.

18 posted on 10/23/2001 1:44:23 PM PDT by KneelBeforeZod
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: sonofliberty2
Now who are you callin' a Feinian Marxist, son? A terrible boil upon you.
20 posted on 11/10/2001 4:14:49 PM PST by Ironword
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