Some ‘heavy people’ in drug syndicate

Press, 4 March 1981, Page 4

Some ‘heavy people’ in drug syndicate

NZPA Lancaster Some ' really heavy people” were in a drugs syndicate that used a London house .as an international message centre, the “Mr Asia” trial was, told! ■ yesterday. I The Aucklander known as( “Mr Asia,” was at first the! top man of the ring, whose! (members called at the house' from all over the world ! Later a fellow New 1 Zealander, Alexander Sin-; clair, was “one of the topi men” and “Mr Asia” —, ; Christopher Martin John-!' 'stone —■ did what Sinclair; ■ told him. '' Sinclair, was a high stakes'! .'gambler who gave, the im-jt ’pression that he was not to' be argued with, according to|t police evidence taken from all

; Londoner, Jack Barclay. ' Repeated before the jury ■ yesterday, it was the first evidence the court has heard of the link between Mr Bar-j clay’s mother Leila, their ( house at Briar Close in| Finchley, and Johnstone’s.' drugs operation in 1977-78. ■ Mrs Barclay has since ( pleaded guilty to the drugs; conspiracy, as has the man' who lived with her at Briar; Close, Frederick Russell. Barclay, aged 27, has pleaded not guilty and his counsel told the jury yesterday that a prosecution state-

r ment put before them was not true. z According to police notes 5 of an interview with Bar- - clay, his mother met John- - stone through the man who J in January admitted murderI; ing the New Zealandfer, An- | drew Maher, of Lancashire. Mrs Barclay ! I when they were neighbours 'sunbathing on the lawns of (their London homes in the ■ hot summer of 1976. She ‘helped him to obtain billiard (tables that were exported ifrom Britain to Johnstone in I Singapore, Barclay was said (to have told the police. A year later Mrs Barclay went to South-East Asia on holiday with her . daughter and a woman friend. “They ran out of cash and < went to Singapore to see if I Martin could help,” the i

notes read by Detective Constable Arnold said. i “He was very good to ! them. He paid for them to i 'stay at a top class hotel and t (gave them a chauffeur. This z [was the time that we be-i ! came involved. Martin and [ i ; Andy (Maher) were into itiv i in a big way. At that time|t ; Martin was the top man.” I g I “Andy and Martin got the! (drugs abroad and they were ( sold in this country. People I g rang our house from all over h the world in connection with drugs. | o “We received messages i t

s j from Singapore,- Australia* 'and Thailand. There were 5j telephone calls at all hours -I of the day and night. - “They were about cocaine >'and cannabis and sometimes -[airline timetables. It was a - sort of information centre.’’ The court heard that in ’ the few months leading, up ito the arrest of syndicate members in October 1979, Sinclair, known as Terry, became involved in Britain. At the request of John- 1 stone, Russell j. introduced Sinclair to Sylvester Pidgeon, aged 41, who was to become his chauffeur in London.- • “Martin was buying drugs for Terry. Terry was one of the top men. In fact Martin did what Terry told ; . him,” Barclay was alleged to have said. Sinclair did not have much time for YAhim. “He just thought T was a wanker. I got the impression that he wasn’t a man to be argued with.” According to the police notes, Barclay said Sinclair was a very rich man who used ■ to take other people gambling in London* He would give them £lOO ($240) each to play with, but’ gambled much higher stakes himself. “I saw him lose ($25,000)’ one night, but it didn’t seem to bother him.” 7