Al Quaida bombers hit Mexican oil / Gas pipelines in sophisticated terrist attacks - Maybe

It is evident that the series of remotely controlled explosion that hit Mexican gas and oil piplines in the week ending July 16th were more sophisticated than at first reported.

Kevin Hall says that the operation indicated extensive knowledge of Mexico’s energy infrastructure,. Not onyl did they hit gas and oil pipelines they had sufficient knowedge to hit major shut off valves to cut nationwide distribution. He quotes a "US official" (?)

“These are major, very expensive shutoff valves that control the flow of all this petroleum (and natural gas). This wasn’t a round tube in the middle of nowhere.”

The bomb planters knew which side of the valve to strike, ensuring that crude oil did not flow to a nearby refinery and that natural gas did not flow to foreign and Mexican manufacturers in the central Bajio region, the "US official" said.

The Oaxaca based Ejercito Popular Revolucionario (EPR) (Popular Revolutionary Army) has claimed responsibility for the attacks and justified their actuions against the state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). It called the July 5 and July 10 pipeline bombings self-defense and demanded the release of two missing members.

So far the Mexican in vestigations have been kept secret, (and it appears aided by "US officials" ) and Mexican media accounts have un helpful and misleading.

Voice of America's VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Mexico City say the attacks remain a mystery as the EPR have never ventured so far North nor had the access to HE explosives and bomb making skills (no visits to the beauty suppliers for Hydrogen peroxide for these terrists it seems) .

He quotes " political analyst" Ana Maria Salazar , who says she remains baffled by the bombings and says she cannot rule out the possibility that a foreign terrorist group might have had a hand in it.

Then , well, well, well ....

"There was a threat posted on a Web site a couple of months ago, supposedly by al-Qaida, that was threatening all the countries providing petroleum to the United States, which included Mexico and Venezuela, which made Hugo Chavez very upset, by the way," she added. "So there is that possibility."

Energy analyst David Shields sees the hand of the powerful and violent drug trafficking cartels, against which President Calderon launched an offensive shortly after taking office last December. He points out that despite good protection to its oil production and export infrastructure, which employs missile-equipped naval vessels to patrol waters near offshore oil platforms, the internal 60,000 kilometres of internal pipelines and pumping structures serving Mexico's own population are much more vulnerable.

Whilst dismissing attacks on export facilities he sees a continued threat to its domestic energy supply network could cripple important industries and discourage foreign investors who are considering placing plants here. "Security experts" on the basis of the evidence of the explosions say the perpetrators knew the attacks would disrupt important industries and probably had information from someone inside PEMEX as to which pipes to bomb for the most effect.

Two things are for sure - someone somewhere is going to boost the Al Quaida connection.... and the price of oil and gas isn't going to go down.

Africa's drugs gateway to Europe

On the 13th July Lord Patel reported on the way West African states, especially Guineau Bissau have become the new staging post for cocaine from South America to Europe and the US. West African narco / people trafficking attracts US presence in Guineau Bissau

Channel 4 had an excellent and hair raising film tonight by Jonathan Miller which you can view here " Africa's drugs gateway to Europe" - you can download this with Real player.

Pic is a still showing the Minister of the Interior who is (allegedly) the principal organiser, who Jonathan Miller interviews along with the Chef d'Armada or head of the Navy, a sorry mess of old coastal fishing boats. Scary.

West African narco / people trafficking attracts US presence in Guineau Bissau

Those readers who read recently about USAFRICOM and the re-alignment of US military interests in Africa / Europe will be fascinated to see another small but significant development on US interests in the Dark Continent in one of the poorest countries in the world.

On the 7th July the United States reopened a diplomatic office in Bissau in Guineau Bissau. Washington closed its diplomatic mission in Bissau more than 10 years ago, shortly before a brief civil war erupted.

The re-opening is claimed to be related to the rise in narco - trafficking via West Africa of South American drugs from Colombia, Venezueala and other nearby countries. Opium and heroin from Afghanistan is also reaching North America by this route.The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC )knows of more than 50 seizures of drugs in the past two years in Guinea Bissau alone.

Diplomatic relations with the the former Portuguese colony were conducted via the neighbouring Sengalese Embassy. Janice Jacobs, the United States ambassador to Senegal, in opening the office said ,"“Reopening this office paves the way for the reopening of a U.S. Embassy in Guinea-Bissau,” Claud Young, a spokesman for the United States Embassy in Dakar, Senegal said opening the diplomatic liaison office was part of a five-year program to return to a full diplomatic presence in Guinea-Bissau.(Dakar was the scene of action (The purpose of 'Operation Menace' was to persuade the Governor General that French West Africa should join de Gaulle) for 3 days in late September 1940 when a force of Free French led by Gen. de Gaulle and UK ships attempted unsucessfully to take Dakar from the Vichy Government and their newly appointed Governor General Pierre Boisson)it was a defeat upon which historians have generally drawn a discreet veil.)The force was composed of 31 British and 4 French vessels, 2,400 French and 4,270 British troops. In retribution the French opearting out of Toulon bombed Gibraltar.

Senegal was the he only sub-Saharan nation to send a contingent to participate in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The First Lady Mrs Bush visited Senegal on a 4 nation trip to West Africa at the end of June 2007.

Washington challenged the country’s government last month over its firing of a police chief who won international praise for tackling Latin American cocaine traffickers.

An imopoverished country of some 1.5 million existing on cashew nuts and fishing in it's island crowded littoral they are burdened with debt,high level corruption, violence and many public workers have not been paid for months.

7 smugglers , men from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela and a French woman were arrested in Senegal(NYT) last week after finding more than 2,400 kilograms (1 tonne) (street value US$200 Mn.)the biggest seizure of it's kind in West Africa. Along with the drugs and men airline tickets from tickets from Rio de Janeiro to Bissau were also found.

This followed a large seizure the previous week - more seriously a haul of 600kg of cocaine was seized in Bissau last September but mysteriously vanished after being stored in the treasury.

Former Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister Aristides Gomes said he had ordered the drugs to be burnt , However The Magistrates' Union said the correct procedures had not been followed and expressed concerns about the government's alleged role in the drugs' trade.

Seven top officials, including former ministers and police commanders, have been arrested but remain uncharged.

There have recently been large cocaine seizures in Ghana and Sierra Leone. 49 kg of cocaine was intercepted by Burkina Faso’s authorities on the border with Mali in April 2007. Very often this is associated with people trafficking into Europe as well. In May 2007, Mauritanian authorities discovered 630 kg of cocaine in an abandoned aeroplane near the airport in Nouadhibou, 500 km north of the capital Nouakchott.

**** There is a fascinating eye witness account of the debacle at Dakar by a young Australian seaman ...well worth reading.

The New Afghan drugs trade

There is considerable fuss and disquiet in Kabul diplomatic circles as drug smuggling hots up. That's smuggling drugs INTO Afghanistan.

Apparently the labrynthine systems and bureaucratic delays have made the import of generic antibiotics, and basic drugs, so time consuming, there is now a healthy trade in branded drugs - which it is suspected can often arrive as diplomatic supplies.

It is not entirely unlikely either, that drugs are leaking out of military medical establishments as the super rich elites can readily afford supplies.

Where are they Now No 231 : 4Tons / £10Mn haul of cannabis in Northern Ireland

Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Northern Ireland's biggest ever drugs haul today

The Organised Crime Task Force report today that the largest ever haul of cannabis (Street value £mn's) has been seized at premises in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. Two men have been arrested.

UPDATE 11th October

On the 11th of October the quantity seized was reported to be 4 tonnes in weight, with street value of £10 Mn. (Euros 14.5 Mn). Local Strangford MP Iris Robinson congratulated those who had succeeded in keeping the huge haul off the streets. “It is not yet clear who was responsible for this criminal act or whether there was paramilitary involvement ..." she said at the time.

Just in advance of Dr Paisley and Dr McGuiness sitting down and smoking the odd Pipe of Peace, one might ask where this mighty haul - the largest ever seized in these islands has gone.... has anyone been arrested ? Has anyone been charged ... indeed as Iris Robinson asked .."was there any paramilitary involvement ...?"

4 Tons, that's ..say ... 6 times the amount of Ammonium Nitrate fertiliser Plod so very carefully kept an eye on in the Crevice case. Let's hope they have been keeping as close an eye on that haul of cannabis....but then of course the fertiliser for an inert substance ... let's hope nobody has tried that with the Newtonards Cannabis Mountain.

No. No. No one would do that.... would they ?

Senlis - Symposium on Afghanistan - the only people who talk sense on the problems and have some answers

The Senlis Council, in collaboration with The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), will be holding a symposium on “A Cohesive Strategy for the Future of Afghanistan: Reconciling Counter-Insurgency, Counter-Narcotics and Reconstruction Efforts”, on 14 February 2007 at 11:00am , Arundel House, London.

The symposium intends to make recommendations on how to reconcile the Counter-Insurgency, Counter-Narcotics and Reconstruction strands of the effort in Afghanistan.

Keynote speakers

Lieutenant General David Richards, Commander, NATO-International Security Assistance Force - who has just been replaced and who did not get on too well with the US forces assigned to NATO (pic NATO)

General Abdul Rahim Wardak, Minister of Defence, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Ms Norine MacDonald QC, President and Lead Field Researcher for Afghanistan, The Senlis Council

Plus other speakers knoweadgeable about the issues and the region.
Mr Peter Bergen, Dr Patrick Cronin, Ambassador James Dobbins,Dr David Kilcullen, Ms Elizabeth Kvitashvili, Mullah Taj Mohammad Mujahid, Ms Hawa Alam Nuristani, Mr Larry Sampler. For further information

Our NEW man in Kabul - and extra troops as well

A chauffeur told me last week that Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles KCMG, LVO (52) will take up his appointment as Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in May in succession to Mr Stephen Evans CMG, OBE who will moving to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Sherard is currently Ambasador in Riyadh and before then in Tel Aviv and before that PPS to the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook .

A colourful charcater whocreated a stir in Tel Aviv by becoming one of a tiny number of diplomats posted to the city to learn Hebrew. Typically he would arrive for interviews on Israeli television talk shows driving himself in a London black cab and sporting a bowler hat and furled umbrella. He went on to Riyadh in 2003 and would normally expect to remain there for 2 more years... there are stories that when the Dear Leader visited Kabul inNovember he expressed strong dissatisfaction with the diplomatic effort.

He was educated at Tonbridge and then read Classics at Hertford College, Oxford, from 1973 to 1977. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the College in 2002.

The immensely lively and fun-loving Lady Bridget Cowper-Coles read Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and has worked in Sana’a and Cairo. They met and married in London in 1982 and she enkoys nothing more than feeding her falcons on live quail every day.

Mr Slinn headed the British diplomatic mission in Pristina in the two years after the Nato invasion of Kosovo. He will take over leadership of the British mission in Helmand from Nick Kay, who finishes his tour of duty on Feb 1.

The US Embasy faces a shake up also, Ronald Neumann, who has headed the US embassy since July 2005, is also to be unexpectedly replaced by the the current US ambassador to Colombia, William Wood.

In December Sherard announced UK visas would be issued on the day of issue - there are 13,000 SA students in the UK and 40,000 visitors arrive each year.

Sir Sherard received some unwelcome publicity when he was in Saudi and addressing a reception for the Queen's birthday (April 2005 - QBP in FO speak) in the remote eastern Saudi city of al-Khobar, when his remarks were reported in the UK and enraged the stout yeoman of Nottinghamshire.

Describing a UK expatriates view of Saudi safety he remarked "He was saying he felt completely ridiculous having to give British businessmen from Nottingham assurances about the security here when Nottingham is the murder capital of the UK at the moment.

"It is far more dangerous, statistically, to be in Nottingham, than to be in al-Khobar, Dammam or Riyadh."

Jon Collins, the leader of Nottingham City Council, where Nottinghamshire Constabulary Chief Constable Steve Green had just suggested the force may have to "farm out" murder cases to other forces, said the city had been unfairly stereotyped . Prince Turki al-Faisal, the (then) Saudi Ambassador to London, seemed convinced by the notion put forward by Sir Sherard.

This Prince of Arabee remarked to the BBC that, "for London alone the figures for one year far exceed the number of people killed in Saudi Arabia over the past two years".

Sounds just the sort of chap to ask President Kharzai about his drug dealing brother, and colleague Ministers like Mr Dostum and the container loads of acetic anhydride for heroin production that floods the country from over the Uzbek border over the Friendship Bridge at Termez.

"At Termez , where the Friendship Bridge crosses into Afghanistan , they (UN) have provided Uzbek customs with very modern facility from sniffer dogs to giant X -rays to X-ray and entire container.

....if you stand around there for a little while , you will start to notice convoys of Mercedes with black windows and of six ton military trucks which are waved onto a track around the customs facilities and never stopped."

Murder in Samarkand Page 249

Which was of course written by Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles' ex colleague at the Foreign and Commonwealth office Craig Murray ... perhaps Craig could give him a few helpful pointers about the Afghan / Uzbek drug trade before he sets off ?

Pic is snap Lord P took at this year's QBP (Queen's 80th!) at the Ambassador's Residence in Riyadh. Sherard and Bridget with US Ambassador James C. Oberwetter and his glamorous wife Anita (an anaesthatist). It was just after this when the excellent Ed Stourton of the BBC interviewed Sherard for the BBC 4 programme Struggle for Saudi Arabia's Soul which went out Tuesday 23 January 2007 20:00-20:40 (Radio 4 FM)and again last Sunday - which means you can't acth it now.

Ambassador Oberwetter was an exciting choice because prior to appointment he had never been to Saudi although he was a VP of Texan oilco Hunt Consolidated Inc., which donated $250,000 to the President’s second inaugural committee. He had worked as the press secretaryin the 1970's for George H.W. Bush , then a Texan Congressman. In 2000 Oberwetter served on President Bush’s "transition" team.

Previous US Ambassador in Riyadh was attorney Robert W. Jordan, a founding partner in the Houston-based law firm Baker & Botts, (In the the launch of Energy Law360 last week, the publication's editors conducted a survey that determined "Baker Botts is the most sought after firm for major energy litigation." ) - who represented Bush during an exciting and interesting 1990 Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into possible (Enron style) insider trading at Bush’s now-defunct oil company, Harkin Energy Corp(Wapo Oct 11th 2002) which Harvard ended up owning 33% at one time.

Baker & Botts are an interesting company for Sherard to keep in touch with if only because they were one of the top ten contributors to the last Bush campaign. They also act for Halliburton and Abdul Aziz the Saudi Defense Minister (and close friend of the delightful Mr Adnan Kashoggi) who was so anxious that the BAe investigation was stopped in its tracks when Swiss Bank Accounts started to be revealed. His son Prince Bandar bin Abdul Aziz is of course Saudi Ambassador to the US and VERY friendly with Dubya. (Payments to Swiss Banks in the name of anonymous Panama entities in the BAe bribery case were believed to be linked to two prominent middlemen - a Lebanese politician, Mohammed Safadi, and Wafic Said, a business manager for Prince Bandar.

Baker & Botts were of course up to their neck in negotiations ( along with Henry Kissinger beautiful piano playing Condileezza Rice and PNAC members Mr Zalmay Khalilzad, Mr Richard Armitage, and now US Ambassador in Baghdead Mr Zalmay Khalilzad,) when Unocal were negotiating (ie offering them lots of money) with the Taliban in trying to push a 875-mile pipeline across Aghanistan which was rudely (and abruptly) interrupted by President Clinton loosing off 75 Tomahawk missiles at a "training camp" at Khost, Afghanistan 90 odd Kms from Kabul on August 20th 1998.

Those with a long memory will recall that On Aug. 19th, 1998: Word that Prosecutor Starr had requested and received a sample of Clinton's DNA became public.

There are stories circulating in the Officers Mess that 30 odd more "Diplomatic Staff" are being sent along with Sherard and his wife's falcons. With the boost to troops being got ready for the slaughter in Helmand it looks like the Empire is getting ready for the long haul. Des Browne described as the Minister Of Defence made a written Parliamentary Statement yesterday

..."These (troop movements) build on the progress we have made in Helmand in the six months since 10 July 2006 " Ho.Ho.Ho.

"As with previous deployments to Afghanistan, there will be a requirement to deploy reservists to serve in theatre. Current plans indicate that around 600 Call Out Notices are to be served on individual reservists in order to fill approximately 420 posts (including nine Sponsored Reserve)."

Sounds pretty serious ...

In the South, 3 Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, will complete their tour in April 2007. They will be replaced by units drawn principally from 12 Mechanised Brigade. We have also decided to maintain until April 2009 some capabilities already deployed, including the Harrier GR7/GR9s, the Apache Attack Helicopters, Viking all-terrain vehicles, and Royal Engineers to support reconstruction activities. By the late summer, personnel numbers in Southern Afghanistan should settle at around 5,800.

The principal units to deploy are: the Brigade Headquarters and its Signal Squadron, the Light Dragoons, the 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards, the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, The 1st Battalion The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters, 26 Engineer Regiment Royal Engineers, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, 2 Signal Regiment Royal Signals, 4 Logistic Support Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, and 4 General Support Medical Regiment Royal Army Medical Corps.

Elements of other units are also deploying to provide niche capabilities. These include: the Armoured Support Group of the Royal Marines, the Light Dragoons, the Second Royal Tank Regiment; 3 Regiment, Army Air Corps; 9 Regiment, Army Air Corps; 1 (Fighter), IV (Army Co-Operation), 18, 24, 27, 30, 47 and 70 Squadrons of the Royal Air Force, 3, 5 and 7 Force Protection Wing Headquarters, Royal Air Force, and 2, 51 and 15 Squadrons of the Royal Air Force Regiment.

Watch out for a lot more blood spilt in the sand for dubious, unclearly stated, ephemeral, fast moving, but nonetheless aggressively pursued objectives - Tanks are going in this time .... to help the Afghans win the Hearts and Minds of the poppy growers no doubt.



Through Mud, and Blood to the Poppy Fields beyond.

Poppies blow in foreign fields for UK soldiers sacrifice and service

From an article in MOD Defence News about 800 Naval Air Squadron's tour on Operation Herrick in Afghanistan.

"They participated in a number of major operations over the October to January period, the overall aim of which has been to support the Government of Afghanistan in its goal of providing peace, governance, security, stability and redevelopment in the region. Yet there has been - and remains - a need to deliver weapons in support of troops on the ground when they come into contact with enemy forces."

"800 Squadron have achieved a tremendous amount in their deployment to Afghanistan, demonstrating again the professionalism, dedication and team work that is the hallmark of Naval Aviation." said Head of the Fleet Air Arm, Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Adrian Johns.

NBC reports ...Bucking U.S., Afghanistan won’t spray heroin - Karzai reportedly would spray fields in 2008 if harvest doesn’t decline

"Rebuffing months of U.S. pressure, President Hamid Karzai has decided Afghanistan will not implement a Colombia-style program to spray the country's heroin-producing poppies, bowing to pressure from top Cabinet members who feared a popular backlash, officials said Thursday.

The decision dashes U.S. hopes that herbicide sprayed by ground applicators would help combat Afghanistan's opium trade after a record crop in 2006."

Opium production from poppies in Afghanistan last year rose 49 percent to 6,700 tons — enough to make about 670 tons of heroin - over 90 % of the world's supply, more than the world's addicts consume in a year. The UN claims 407,000 acres of poppies were cultivated in 2006, including 173,000 acres in Helmand province alone - 1,500 acres were destroyed by hand this year. AP report 2 members of an Afghan government eradication team were shot and wounded by unidentified gunmen as they destroyed poppies in western Herat province on Wednesday.

Now remind me again , what are our brave lads doing in Afghanistan ?

Lord Bassam of Brighton talks in his sleep

Whilst Ruth Kelly and Margaret Beckett are members of the Gubment it seems unreasonable, inaccurate even, to say that the splendidly named and unelected (and unelectable) Lord Bassam of Brighton (created 1997) is the stupidest member of the New Labour criminal fraternity . (Very strongly in favour of smoking ban and ID cards)

However his performance on Tuesday in the House of Lords takes some beating. (Pic 4th left over the V in Hove)

My Lord Cobbold rose to ask what seems a reasonable question. The Home Secretary in January 2005 announced a "root and branch review of the ABC system of drug classification". The current sytem is based, it is claimed, on classifying drugs on the degree of self harm they cause.

My Lord Cobbold (David Antony Fromanteel Lytton Cobbold. 2nd Baron created 1960 - father Governor of the Bank of England from 1949/1961 and sensibly married into the Bulwer-Lyttons of Knebworth House - believes Members of HOL should retire at 75 or 80 - C) was aware of "the excellent report of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Drug Classification: Making a hash of it." and pointed to their conclusion on Page 48

“we have found glaring anomalies in the classification system as it stands and a wide consensus that the current system is not fit for purpose”.

He pointed out that the drugs trade is the second largest global business after oil, and it is all in the hands of criminals. Did the Minister consider this to be acceptable?

Or ...would the Gubment agree ...

" the real problem is not about detailed composition of their classification system but that current national and international drugs policies are as a whole not fit for purpose? Is it not obvious that prohibition, as the late Milton Friedman once wrote,

“is an attempted cure that makes matters worse”?

Lord Bassam of Brighton: (All this happened just after Prayers at 2.30 so one perhaps should take into account that My Lord Bassam may have been digesting a comforting and splendid lunch - perhaps with the addition of a decent claret and maybe a post prandial port or three).

"I am aware that there are some critics of the classification system, but we have to base our policy on something. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has served us well in advising not just our Government, but successive Governments, on the best course of action with regard to particular types of drugs and their derivatives."

Of course my Lord Bassam was right, although not helpful, nor indeed did he answer the question, but merely stated some easily determined facts and placed the blame squarely, if not fairly on the oddly named Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs . A point which the sharp minded The Countess of Mar was swift to point out ;

"My Lords, the noble Lord did not really answer the question put to him by the noble Lord Swinfen - Can he please tell us what consideration Her Majesty’s Government have given to purchasing the harvest of opium from Afghanistan and using it for medicinal purposes in this country? "

The policy of the excellent and very sensible Senlis Council - see endless postings here.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: My Lords, my understanding from colleagues across government is that we are looking to ensure that crop substitution takes place. Work is being undertaken on that. (Whilst dodging the bullets in Helmand province no doubt)

Lord Tebbit: My Lords, can the Minister tell us whether it is the Government’s view that legalising any particular drug would be likely to increase or to decrease its consumption?

At which point the blundering Lord was saved (as it were) by the bell, as Lord Rooker The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs curtailed further debate by reminding the House that in its quaint way "My Lords, I am sorry, but we are well into the eighth minute, and we must move on...."

Perhaps it would be right to mention that Baroness Gardner of Parkes had also asked about ,"What can be done to prevent tragedies occurring where someone has caused even death due to driving under the influence of drugs? to which the beached Bassam provided, not an answer but some fascinating statistics....

"My Lords, the noble Baroness is right that we should focus our attention on the practical impact of substance misuse. It is for that reason that the Government have invested as heavily as they have in drug treatment and tackling misuse. Since 2001-02, £7.5 billion has been invested by the Government in tackling drug abuse. In the past year alone, the Government invested £1.5 billion, and a further £86 million was made available for treatment services. If we can start to deal with drugs issues in those ways, we have a greater chance of success."

"There are examples of success in terms of reducing people’s interest in and consumption of drugs "

..... but he failed to provide any.

One could be forgiven for worrying about the way our legislators handle the greatest social evil of our times, the greatest criminal enterprise (although VAT fraud is fast overtaking) and the most profoundly damaging effect on young people, prostitution, people trafficking, crime committed to indulge in drugs ....

Curious how expenditure of £7.5 Mn with no demonstrable effect on the problems of drugs misuse is decribed as ..... an investment.

It seems very unreasonable that we should taunt these chaps after a decent lunch with all these difficult questions, and expect answers -

Irish Drugs Wars roll on relentlessly

Two young men jumped off a balcony in the plush gated Ard na Cluaine complex at Yellow Meadows, off the Nangor Road in Clondalkin, West Dublin, last week when Gardai came calling, tipped off about a stash of heroin. The gang leader whose 54 kilos of heroin had been fingered, will have lost €11 million. He is based in the Kilmainham area of the south west inner city, whose gang turf is the south inner city and in Crumlin and Drimnagh.

The 54 Kilos of heroin , the biggest ever in Eire, is said to have cost €2.5 Mn for the drug and another €1.5 Mn for couriers, would gross the gang €6 Mn (ish). More than 40kg of heroin - with a street value in excess of €8m has been seized in Eire this year - compared with just 15kg seized in 2005.

The word on the street is that another gangster from Drimnagh whose turf covers Drimnagh and Crumlin had tipped off the Gardai as part of a continuing drugs war, which has resulted in eight (known) deaths so far. It started when 20-year-old Declan Gavin was stabbed to death in a Crumlin chip shop in 2001 - he had been identified as a Gardai source after the seizure of a €1.5m shipment of drugs in a hotel bedroom in March 2000.

In July 2002, gang leader John Rattigan was shot dead through the forehead with a handgun at close range after an attempt the previous March . After a lull ,in January 2004, Paul Warren was gunned down in a Dublin pub. In March last year , John Roche was killed in Kilmainham which was shortly followed by Darren Geoghegan (26) and Gavin Byrne (30) and 2 nights later Noel Roche (brother of John Roche) were shot dead in their cars.

Wayne Zambra (22) became the eighth victim when, at about 1am on a Sunday morning in August , he was gunned down on Cameron Street, just off Cork Street.

As well as these deaths there are others which may be involved - Niall Hanlon whose body was found buried in February 2005 after his disappearance the previous September.David McCreevy was silenced on his doorstep in Tallaght at the samwe time when out on bail (!) awaiting trial on charges related to the seizure of heroin and cannabis in Dublin and Kildare late last year.

Seamus "Shavo" Hogan died in a hail of bullets when he and his wife went for a night out at the Transport Club, off Clogher Road but as a known associate of Martin "The General" Cahill he might have been a hit of some paramilitaries.

Elswhere Barry Monaghan, (aged 26), of Clonliffe Road, Ballybough was handed 120 hours community service after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a container full of on March 31, 2004 at Togher Business Park, Naas, Co Kildare, knowing them to have been stolen and to using a vehicle without the consent of the owner.

Detective Sergeant Mark Kavanagh told the court that the Garda was targeting a city centre group based nearby who were involved in stealing containers from the Dublin Docks, armed robbery and other serious crimes.

The court was told that the pre-excise value of the cigarettes was €53,514.94 and had a retail value of €2.5 Mn.

Lord Patel reported here the largest drugs haul in the North on October 10th of 4 tonnes of cannabis resin with a street value of €10 Mn. - £14.5 Mn. at Newtownards, Co Durham.

A 25-year-old was arrested in a house in Cork, along with 7 Kgs of cocaine worth €2.5 Mn, 12 kilos of a special mixing agent for the preparation of cocaine for street sale and a "substantial amount of cash in small used bills".

The picture is of Veronica Guerin the Dublin journalist who was killed in June 1996 for exposing the Drugs empires in Dublin. Brian Meehan, a Dublin hoodlum got life for murdering her.

Guns for "I cannot believe it's Butter - it must be Coke"

Anyone familiar with the street in Cyprus is aware that the UK garrison is well supplied with their needs for illegal drugs - if not a major source, as a boost to their pay.

Therefore the Sunday Times story "Soldiers in 'guns for coke' scandal" by the usually excellent and accurate David Leppard about soldiers from the 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment swapping seized Iraqi hand weapons for Cocaine in Germany at the rate of 50 grams of cocaine (with a street value of £2,500(?)) for weapons like Glock's (The Yardie's armament of choice here in Manchester) is entirely believable.

During the First World War the Yorkshire Regiment raised 21 battalions. A memorial to the 9,000 men of the Regiment who died, stands in the Soldiers' Chapel in Beverley Minster. 4 Victoria Crosses were awarded to men of the Regiment.

The 3rd Battalion completed a tour of duty in southern Iraq last year and is now based in Warminster, Wiltshire.

Leppard reports " the army is suffering an epidemic of drug abuse" which is rather over - egging the pudding. Drugs have long been as popular amongst the young men and women in the armed forces, at the same level as outside ...... fuelled by boredom and cheap booze and the "macho" culture.