-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Secret gun finds raise gang fears Sharp rise in smuggling fuels drug wars Paul Lashmar and James Oliver Monday January 13 2003 The Guardian Growing arsenals of hand grenades, machine guns and Semtex explosives have been seized at ports by customs and excise in a wave of smuggling that is arming criminal gangs, the Guardian can disclose. One of the most disturbing aspects of the arms finds, in a climate of growing public anxiety about gun crime, is that customs, which is under the control of the government, has kept quiet about the most recent discoveries. The dramatic rise in gun crime has profoundly embarrassed the government in the wake of the fatal shooting of two teenage girls at a new year's party in Birmingham. Customs did not publicly disclose their most recent finds in June and November and have given few details of an earlier seizure in April. They cite ongoing investigations as the reason. The most significant seizure took place in early November at a south coast port, according to investigators, when customs discovered in a lorry load of frozen pizza about 30 Uzi machine pistols, magazines, silencers and ammunition believed to come from Croatia and heading for London. In another seizure in June at Dover, in a lorry purportedly carrying aircraft spares, customs found two mini submachine guns. In addition, four magazines, two silencers, a Magnum .44 handgun and ammunition were discovered. Last April customs intercepted a vehicle at Felixstowe docks. Seventeen hand grenades were hidden on board along with detonators, two packs of explosive, 10 handguns, three machine pistols and ammunition. Sources say that some of the weapons were destined for drug gangs, including the Turkish heroin gangs in north London and a south London crime family. Arms shipments, many from eastern Europe, are believed to have been destined for organised criminals. Police sources believe the surge in arms smuggling is motivated by drug gangs urgently increasing their firepower to cope with a growing spate of turf wars. According to sources in police intelligence: "These seizures may well indicate the emergence of a new source of weapons for some organised crime groups. The problem is, we don't know what's got through." In 2001-2002 only a few handguns were found by customs. The seizures in the last nine months suggest a surge in arms smuggling. Customs usually estimate that they seize a small percentage of any regular contraband traffic. Some hand grenades are believed to be in criminal hands in Britain already. After the shooting of the two teenage girls in a drug gang shootout, the attacked gang has threatened to use hand grenades in retribution. Police are hunting the killers of Charlene Ellis, 18, and her cousin Letisha Shakespeare, 17. A customs press spokeswomen confirmed that there had been seizures. "We have had some seizures of guns over the last eight months that naturally concern us. It is far too early to say any new trend was emerging with only handful of significant seizures over the last eight months and not much more than this over the past year." However, a customs source said: "Within customs this is believed to show a new trend in smuggling in such serious weapons." Police sources say they are concerned that the number of dedicated customs firearms and explosive officers based at ports had declined over the last two years. Last month the head of intelligence at Scotland Yard warned that gun battles could break out in London between rival gangs fighting over the trade in crack cocaine and heroin. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Mike Fuller said the capital was "on the cusp" of turf wars between Albanians, Turks, Chinese triads and Jamaicans. He said the gangs were involved in drug dealing, human trafficking and kidnapping. Police are particularly worried because the foreign-based gangs have already shown they have access to firearms and are prepared to kill. There have been 18 murders this year involving "black on black" killings by British crack dealers and Jamaican Yardie gangsters. At the beginning of December Alisan Dogan, 43, a cleaner, was caught in the crossfire and shot dead when dozens of criminals staged a running battle in a busy shopping area of Green Lanes, in Haringey, north London. The incident that left four men with gunshot wounds is thought to be connected to Turkish organised crime linked to the heroin trade. Cutting off new sources of guns for criminals has so far been hampered by the lack of comprehensive and centralised intelligence of police and customs seizures. But April will see the launch of the forensic science service's firearms database that will provide centralised information on all firearms submitted by police forces and customs. The information, which will be shared with the national criminal intelligence service's firearms tracing service, will help enable police to identify new trends in the use of guns by criminals as well as identifying their illegal suppliers. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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