Child Slavery A Persecution of the Poor and Helpless: DRUG GANGS USING FOOD DELIVERIES BUSES AND TRAINS TO MOVE DRUGS AROUND THE COUNTRY

Thursday, 16 April 2020

DRUG GANGS USING FOOD DELIVERIES BUSES AND TRAINS TO MOVE DRUGS AROUND THE COUNTRY

Two men and a woman drive up to a Covid-19 checkpoint in Phibsboro, Dublin, at 4.30am yesterday morning. They are all from Dublin's north inner city and the car is 16 years old - 'a banger'. In the middle of a pandemic, where house parties are against the law, one of the men is sitting in the back with a stack of pizza boxes on his lap. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that Gardaí become suspicious and try to stop the car but it drives on through the checkpoint at speed. It doesn’t stop until it is forced to and then only by crashing at Essex Quay in Dublin city centre. One of the three car occupants- jumps out and throws a package into the River Liffey which - when recovered later by the Garda sub aqua unit - contains two semi- automatic pistols. The contents of the pizza boxes are still being tested but the suspicion, at the moment is that they could have contained up to €500,000 worth of cocaine.

Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on thousands of legitimate businesses all over the country but illegitimate businesses such as gun running, drug trafficking and gangland murders have also been affected.

Operation Fanacht has put over 650 checkpoints and 2,500 high visibility Gardaí on the street and disrupted the lives not only of law-abiding citizens, but also of those who ignore the law an- in particular, those involved in organised crime.

In 144 instances over the Easter bank holiday weekend, the checkpoints resulted in the detection of other crimes including drugs, road traffic, assault and public order offences. The policing operation is forcing drug dealers, gunmen and criminals to be more creative and there is some evidence to show that they are trying.

Gardai say the attempt by three low level criminals to move guns and drugs in pizza boxes is indicative of a pattern they have identified where gangs are trying to move product under the guise of food deliveries.

"If they are stopped, they need to have an excuse," one senior Garda said, "and while one or two pizzas might not have raised suspicions, a stack of seven is a different matter."

Moving Drugs and Guns As Easy As Ordering A Pizza.

Street dealers are using cars, mopeds and bikes while pretending to deliver takeaway food.

Some dealers are trying to use well known online food delivery and taxi companies - unbeknownst to these legitimate businesses - as cover. One man was stopped yesterday in a taxi at a Covid-19 checkpoint in the Naul area of Co Dublin.

"The policing operation is forcing drug dealers, gunmen and criminals to be more creative and there is some evidence to show that they are trying"

Unknown to the taxi driver, his passenger was carrying €20,000 worth of cannabis.

Likewise, based upon the (County Lines Operation In The UK) Buses and Trains are being used on a daily basis to distribute drugs nationwide.

The street dealers are also using other forms of public transport to move around and gardaí are boarding buses, trains and the Luas, not just to ensure that social distancing is being observed, but to see if there are any known criminals on board.

These are the people whom the Garda are most likely to stop and search. One small time criminal had €250 taken from him after he was stopped on the street in Ballymun this morning.

With over 80% of the population locked down, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the working criminal to move around and remain inconspicuous.

Certain types of crime such as theft and burglary have dropped significantly. It’s hard to break into a house when the residents are home all the time. It’s impossible to pick pockets when there is no one on the streets, particularly in the main shopping areas.

A Gun Or Two Is Handy If The Client Has NO MONEY TO PAY UP.

Gardaí say that street level drug dealers are now actively seeking new ways to move their drugs. Rather than take the risk of moving it themselves and getting caught, they are looking to use people who can legitimately move around and are less likely to be stopped by the Gardai.

The drug leaders' approach is both carrot and stick - offer an incentive to those who might be enticed and use threats and violence against those that can be coerced.

There is some evidence that dealers are approaching people who have letters from their employers and essential service workers such as binmen and retail workers and offering them money to move their products.

They are also contacting customers who owe them money and forcing them to carry drugs and guns to help pay off debts. Gardaí are still trying to establish who was behind the drugs and guns haul in the pizza boxes as it’s deemed too big a stash for the three people who were caught with it.

At the top level, organised crime gangs are also working to find new ways to smuggle their multi million- euro drugs shipments across international borders.

STransport lanes across the world have been shut down by the coronavirus outbreak. Traditional routes through ports and airports are in many cases no longer an option. Immigration and customs officers are on the alert. Couriers are more likely to have their suitcases searched.

Drugs gangs often hide their consignments in cars and motor parts, building supplies and household products but because of the global recession, these are no longer being shipped and demand has dried up.

Heroin and cocaine can not be smuggled into Ireland in tiles or other such goods from Spain or the Netherlands if people are no longer buying these products to decorate their patios and bathrooms.

Gardaí say the crime bosses are now looking at trying to hide their consignments in food shipments which are currently the main focus of international commerce.

However, the economic downturn has severely limited their capacity to do business.

The problem therefore for organised crime at both street and top level is supply, not demand. The market is still there; people addicted to drugs like methamphetamine and heroin are still craving them, part time and professional users who smoke a bit of cannabis or snort cocaine would still buy drugs if they could get them.

For many, it would alleviate the boredom of the lockdown.

The issue for the drugs gangs and the dealers is how to get their product to the market, how to get the drugs to the users, particularly with the country – as one dealer put it - "now crawling with cops".

IN THE USA:

On Monday night, police in Burlington, Vermont, met a Megabus arriving from New York and arrested one of the passengers for possession of 30 grams of cocaine (worth between $1,800 and $2,400). It's the fifth drug bust Burlington police have conducted at the University of Vermont's Megabus stop in the last eight months. This is not evidence of a Megabus problem. It is evidence that buses are very- popular among traffickers.

Imagine you have been asked (or offered!) to take drugs from one state to another. How would you do it? Flying would be your absolute worst option. You' have to keep your cool while going through passenger screening and pray that your checked cargo (which has all your identifying information attached to it) doesn't pique the curiosity of luggage screeners. And if your luggage gets lost between Hartsfield-Jackson and O'Hare? There is no easy answer, I'm afraid. Probably best to kiss your sleeping children goodbye and run for the border.

You can stash your stash and then take a snooze.

What about Amtrak? You handle your own luggage, which means it won’t get screened and it won't leave your sight. While TSA agents now haunt some stations, they don’t subject passengers to searches. But it's still a formalized mode of transportation. Amtrak takes a lot of information from passengers, even if they pay for their ticket with cash. There are also dogs in some stations. They probably sniff only for bombs, not drugs, but do you really know for sure?

"I could drive myself!" You could absolutely do this. No tickets, no checked bags, no drug dogs ... unless you get pulled over. Then yes, there could very well be drug dogs. But even if there are no drugs dogs, are you prepared for the flop-sweat that comes with having a state trooper tail you, and the half-gallon Mason jar full of Big Buddha Cheese tucked under the spare tire in your trunk, on the Interstate for six miles? What about your tags: are they current? Your insurance? Better check those brake lights before you embark! Ultimately, driving yourself requires you to play it really- cool. Can you? It’s a very precarious way to find out.

Which brings us to the bus! The bus poses none of these problems. Tickets are cheap and you can buy them with cash without telling the bus company too much about yourself. Companies like Bolt Bus even allow passengers to buy tickets with cash from the bus driver. When you board, there's no system to make sure you are who you say you are, and other passengers don't really care either. Maybe your luggage ends up under the bus, but you put it there yourself. Basically, you can stash your stash and then take a snooze.

Drug smugglers know this, which is why they love buses. Drug cops also know this but can't do much about it. With a bus line's permission, cops are allowed to board buses and "talk" to passengers. They can even dress like slobs and prowl bus stations hunting people "who look nervous or hold on too tightly to luggage." But ultimately, America's bus system is far too anonymous and far too casual to police like an airport or train station.

So how did the Burlington police make their man? A "tip," which probably means a confidential informant or undercover cop in New York helped set the guy up. That's how Alabama cops broke up a coke trafficking operation that ran from Houston to Mobile via Greyhound, and how Kentucky cops busted a heroin-Oxy smuggling ring that moved drugs from Ashland to Detroit (also via Greyhound). The lesson? The only truly safe way to traffic drugs is to not traffic drugs at all.

ENDS:

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