THE HOLY LAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 January 1933, Page 12

THE HOLY LAND

HOME OF DRUG TRAFFIC. It will come as a shock to the millions of the Christian population of the world to learn that the Holy Land is one of the black spots of the East so far as the drug traffic is concerned. It will be a startling revelation to the devout people from nearly every nation on earth who make pilgrimage to the holy places, to know that in their spiritual goal of Christ’s birthplace the traffickers are busy, writes a former member of the Palestine Police and Customs Department in the “News-Chronicle.” Years ago Palestine gained a terrible notoriety for being the clearing house of onn of the vilest trades that the mind of man ever conceived—the traffic in women and girls. To some extent this has ceased to be a matter of reproach to the authorities who control the destinies ot the country, but the illicit trade in dangerous drugs, intended for the excitementcrazy night birds of the European and American cities, has received a tremendous impetus.

The ghouls who make enormous profits by destroying the souls and bodies of drug addicts in all countries of the globe have found “doperunning” more profitable and less dangerous than the trade in human be-, ings. Their organisations and their devilish ingenuity have been transferred from the one nefarious calling to the other. Throughout the Holy Land, in the villages and towns which bear the most sacred names in history, the agents of the drug traffic pursue theii way, and so artfully is the nature, of their trade concealed that detection is rendered tremendously difficult, in spite of the admirable vigilance of that sorely tried body of men—the Palestine Police Force. On the Via Dolorosa, within 50 yards of one of the Stations of the Cross, there flourished for a long time a certain shop which was one of the local centres of the trade. A police informant came to the local station one day saying that his suspicions were aroused at the sight of a man he had long suspected as a drug agent loitering about this little shop. A lightning raid followed, and large quantities of hashish were found on the premises. The usual story was told by the Arabs who were arrested. The drug was wanted for the local natives, they said. If those local natives had done nothing but consume hashish every minute for twejve months, they would have used only the tiniest fraction of the drug supply stored in that shop! Although the natives do smoke very large quantities of hashish, frequently mixed with a proportion of tobacco, and to some extent this has to be winked' at by the authorities, there was not the slightest doubt that the innocent-looking wayside shop was one of the important clearing houses of the trade. Here bulk supplies were received from Turkey and the north, and distributed to various agents for delivery in Egypt, where the big men of the “racket” supervise the distribution to the consuming centres.

WHY PALESTINE? Many will wonder why Palestine is the centre of the activities of the dope smugglers. Th'- three principal drugs, for which there is a steady demand from the countries of Western Europe, and North and South America, are cocaine, heroin, and hashish. India and Australia take huge quantities of heroin. The Dark Continent is not a good market for these abominable wares, although two of the principal distributing centres of the world, Cairo and Alexandria, are African cities.

The centres of production are in comparatively remote, inaccessible and poorly policed districts in Southern Russia, Turkey, and the Balkan countries. After rough processes of manufacture the crude drug is brought south to the Mediterranean seaports from whence it can be broadcast to the waiting traffickers. Palestine is on the line of route and of necessity has become the high road of drugs, the pathway of a pernicious commodity.

The trade reached its peak period shortly after the Armistice in 1918, when the demand for stimulating drugs was at its height in all the war-weary countries. Men and women who once shuddered at the thought of giving way to the craze cailght the infection and became devotees of one form or another of “dope.” The .fever spread, and it was then that the ramifications of the business became widespread ; the ring controlling supplies tightened its grip until local officials in scores of countries became corrupted and the passage of the supplies of drugs through forbidden territory became facilitated to an incredible extent. When Palestine became British Mandated territory there was an immediate reaction among the traffickers. They realised that under British control the trade would not be tolerated for a moment. They therefore set themselves to devise methods of eluding detection, and so successful were many of their ruses that they were able to keep up a regular supply to the consuming centres for a long period almost without interruption. Under British rule, rapidly the Police and Customs administration was tightened up. Corrupt officials were detected and removed. Haunts which had long been immune from any kind of official interference were raid'' ' and closed. A regular detective force was employed in tracing the various methods which the traders adopted, and within a comparatively .short • space of time the main routes were closed..

Unfortunately, however, the wily Oriental mind, combined with- slick European and American brains, contrived to, find fresh methods of transport amt concealment. The difficulties of the British authorities were immense. They had to contend —and their numbers, it must be rememi.errd, were ludicrously small—with an entire underworld of smugglers whose organisation was very thorough, having been built up through decades of bribery, corruption, and intimidation.