TRICKS OF THE TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

TRICKS OF THE TRADE.

"DOPE" TRAFFICKERS. PIGEONS AS CARRIERS. CUNNING DEVICES. Drug traffickers are again active in the West End of London and remarkable disclosures are inade. A new phase of the traffic is the use of carrier pigeons to convey the "'dope" from . the Continent. Behind closed doors and heavily curtained windows, bogus West End night clubs are again selling liquor after hours and catering for drug addicts. Before the great clean-up of the West End liaunts by the Flying Squad most of these establishments onenly attracted "members" by electric signs and commissionaires. The method has changed. The illegal drinking, and - in some eases the traffic in dope, continues, but except for the people furtively entering and leaving, these new clubs appear in the guise of private houses. Laughter or the sound of a saxophone is the only clue. Following certain rumours of their renewed activities, I determined to find fcut what was really happening in the West End, which after midnight is supposed to be drinkless. states a special commissioner of the "Weekly Dispatch." But the new proprietors are cautious —newcomers are not welcomed as in the old days, so I started with a guide, whose connection with the business gives him the entry into every secret haunt in London. Of the six clubs we visited, drink was obtainable in five of them. The first was near Wardour Street. It was heavily barred and bolted: customers were admitted only after the closest scrutiny by the man behind a small iron grill. Here in a long basement under the pavement, dancing, singing and drinking goes on till the small hours of the morning. When we ariSi'ed. however, there was no sign of life. "They closed down a few minutes ago—in a panic," a man told us. "But they are reopening again next week." Next we crossed Piccadilly Circus and arrived at a club which, unlike the ones we visited later in the evening, boldly flaunted an electric sign on which was written its name. Every Drink 2/. The proprietor was unwilling {o let us in, and would only do so on payment of 10/ each. It was about half-past twelve now. The room inside was merely a bar from which all the whisky and gin supplies had beeu removed. Prominently displayed were ginger ale and lemonade. "Every drink is two shillings," the barman informed us. When we ordered two whiskys, lie walked to the left, where there was a food hatch leading into the kitchen, and immediately two whiskys appeared as if by magic. Pound the room there were more women than men. Our taxi cab took us across the water to one of the most surprising places I have seen. Although it is situated near the city, it is worthy of mention, as it is on the regular "beat" of those seekers after alcoholic gaiety who frequent the clubs farther west. My guide rang the bell of a shabbylooking house. After a time a tiny grille was opened and we were admitted. But not before we had each stood in turn in front of the opening with our faces turned to the light. This was no bogus examination which managers once favoured for the purpose of creating local colour. When the door was opened we passed not into an apartment house, as I thought, but into a full-size bar with beer pumps and every kind of intoxicant. Many of the men seemed members of race gangs from the razor marks that scarred their faces. Several women were sitting together in a room next the bar. In the Charing Cross there are two of these secret clubs—without commissionaires, without lights, but with large entrance fees. They are both small, crowded rooms which combine drinking with a total lack of gaiety. One fact struck me forcibly. Drinks seem to be served at fairly reasonable prices nowadays in these new haunts. Before the raids clubs would demand 5/ for a small whisky. One club near the city wanted only the ordinary saloon bar prices. The first of these two clubs in Charing Cross had a slight semblance!of gaiety, as attempts were being made to tap some fun from a piano. But neither the piano nor the listeners were really sympathetic. Melancholy reigned supreme at the second one, but it was here that we heard rumours of amazing dope orgies which were being run by a woman whose name is closely associated with the more vicious forms of law-breaking. Drugs—By Pigeon. Here" the proprietor has discovered an amazing new method of importing drugs into London from the Continent. Homing pigeons, carefully trained for years, are being used in this traffic, j They fly from European capitals to their humble lofts in London laden with cocaine and other drugs worth many thousands of pounds. Scotland Yard officers have made every effort to ,discover the channel through which the drugs are imported. A detective who has spent many years in investigating drug traffic told me that the carrying of dope by pigeonß would be a most difficult thing to detect. "Such a metl««*i," he said, "has never occurred to us and it may be many months before we succeed in getting to the bottom of the matter, i Only by some mischance -will the police be supplied with a definite clue. There are many owners of homing pigeons in London, all apparently beyond reproach, and the task of finding the owner who uses the birds for doubtful purposes will be extremely difficult." We made only one more call that night—it was to the most famous club of them all; one which has never attempted to hide its real identity behind closed doors, curtained windows, or anything else. Although the premises were recently disqualified for five years, lights were blazing and a commissionaire was looming large on the pavement outside, even at that early hour in the morning. I told two girls in a box office that I had only 15/, and was admitted for exactly half of what I had. Inside I found the same band, the same staff, and the same dancing girls that have always continued here through the worst raids. I had previously been told that in a dark upper room, carefully guarded by a member of the staff,_ privileged people could still obtain intoxicants. I tried five wp.ys of getting a drink, and the answer was the same every time. There were no drinks to be had, "Not for £100, and would a nice fruit cup bu just as good?" Perhaps they knew me. Anyhow, it was the only difference I could notice in this notorious club.