SERIOUS DRUG MENACE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

SERIOUS DRUG MENACE

SCOTLAND YARD'S PROBLEM GREAT EVIL ORGANISATION MASTER-MIND AT WORK Scotland Yard is faced to day with the greatest ,drug traffic problem it has experienced since the hey-day of Brilliant Chang a few years ago. The police are confronted by an organisation worth thousands of pounds and with connection!! in all parts' of the world. Some details of the ramifications of this organisation were given on page 2 of last week 6 Supplement. Scores of hitherto clean-living, young men and women are being grasped by the tentacles of the drug octopus. Once in its grip there is little chance of their ever escaping. One of its saddest victims was a beautiful former leader of fashions, who committed suicide by jumping from a window Jn Mayfair, London. She had taken drugs for 15 years and had attempted to commit Filicide by drug taking. Inquiries made by a Sum!ay Chronicle correspondent show how real are the difficulties with which Scotland Yard is faced. Heroin and cocaine are the drugs most in evidence, the reason is that they are easy to export and carry about. The drugs are produced in large quantities on the Continent and shipped to all parts of the world. One of the most lucrative markets is London where the consumption has in creased to an enormous extent within the past year. Lurking in the background of London's j gayer social set is a master mind who controls the traffic in the capital. He is the local representative of a world-wide organisation and is supplied with unlimited funds. Who he is, nobody knows, but he has undoubtedly occupied the throne previously held by the notorious [trafficker, Brilliant Chang. Serving under this master-mind are a number of lieutenants who act as his distribution agents. They, in turn, pass the [drugs to' the sellers, who are in constant contact with the victims. The sellers comprise all classes, a large percentage being and waitresses in disreputable night clubs, while many paid dancing partners in these clubs are known to transfer " dope " in the course of a dance. Time after time Scotland Yard catches one of the sellers red-handed. He is punished, but he never reveals the identity of the master-mind. The pay is too great and there is always a job waiting for him when he conies out of prison. His fine is always paid by the organisation. Here is the greatest of all obstacles the Yard has to fight against. The profit on drugs is so large that the organisation can afford to pay thousands of'pounds each year in fines.