TRAFFIC IN DRUGS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 February 1933, Page 6

TRAFFIC IN DRUGS

MILLIONS'OF - MONEY EXPENDED

LEADERS’ PLOTS EXPOSED

LONDON, February 7. Last month was expected to see the publication) in Cairo of the most impressive add" best-documented indictment of the international drug traffic ever- drafted: This' is' the anilual report furnished To the Egyptian' Ministry of the Interior by. the English Chief cf thh : Egyptian Police, MajorGeneral' T. : W..- Russell, a nephew of tlie Duke Of Bedford. As an exposure of human baseness and criminal ingenuity it surpasses the most realistic “crook” novel ever written. «

Tho report which'Russell Pasha has prepared ‘will contain photographic reproductions of document's' seized on -.arrested' drug traffickers. These lay bare tlie whole inside- story of their cosmopolitan organisation. Their eommumcaticlii codes, devices, disguises, smuggling methods, difficulties, doubts •>dangers are all disclosed.

Ten* thousand copies of the report were to "be printed in 1 Arabic-, French, and -English; for propaganda, and' educational purposes, and it was expected that it would he I 'available'to the' public” ahotit' the middle ‘of February.

RESULT OF' VIGOROUS CAMPAIGN

This" unveiling, of the entire organisatihh!‘afld'''idfentity of the' sellihg' riiigs in 'Europe is the culminatidh-' of-tliO vigorous campaign- which ha S ' been- carried' on during the last year : by the Egyptian 1 Central' Narcotic Intelligence Bureau. The revelationsiir the report were expected to cause exT'fefne perturbation' in-some Western European countries.

The present position, as described to Mr G. Wrlla'rd Price; correspondent of the “Daily Mail,” by Russell Pasha himself, is; that the drug traffickers are “oh‘the run.” This is due to the hotter ico-ordinatiOn of work by certain coUittries, including Egypt. The centre "of manufacture of contraband drugs i s', -always"moving. From France aHd.Sti’itzeriatfci-it was recently'moved to Turkey. Now it has" been'moved again.- -' - •' •' '• --" ""

Evidence' is fothconiing to show .the LeagUd - 0 f Natlon>" Commission on this' traffic that another ".Balkan country is no#' the" centre of" the." world dope trade,” Russell Pa’siia" said. “Profits running into'millions sterling can now .ho proved to have been made in the China market, and it is European groups of smugglers who are shipping tlie drugs out thpre.--“Unless international eo-operatiori

against these drug-runners can be secured, they are practically invulnerable. Cases have even • occurred in, which diplomatic privilege lias beep abused as’ cover for this traffic. This confers the .advantage of secrecy, in ..all their ' eommiimcatiohs" by post, cable, or'wireless." lii‘most European countries tliem is .nq ;extiu_ditipn for drgg ’tafficking;”.

HUGE PROFITS IX THE TRAFFIC

The men, mostoictive- in the drug traffic in Egypt are of Greek nationality. Curiously enough, there has so far been little violence in -their competition, such as prevails among the bootleggers of America, though signs of armed resistance are beginning to, manifest themselves. Several Egyptian policemen have recently, been killed in fight# with drug smugglers. The huge profits realised in the trade have left room for all to work without mutual jealousy, for heroin, which costs £lO a pound to mak-e, is sold, by the manufacturer to the smuggler at- £7O.

The smuggler, passes, the same quantity on to his agent in tho country “where he operates for between £IBO and £2OO, and" the price which this amount of drug may-fetch when retailed among addicts, by a long chain of .sub-agents is very, much higher. .The golden days of the drug traffickers are rapidly coming to an end, ;however.- ' After ■ the appearance of Russell’. Pasha’s .report, it -is believed that tlie most prominent of them —who must by now he very wealthy men, and who' are'aware of tlie! damning character of the’ material-' which has been seized and is now about to he published—are preparing to retire from the business with their ill-gotten gains.- : ,