Dai Havard

Labour Party | Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney

No One ‘Front Line’ Against Drugs!

I was most pleased to see the recent extensive and high profile Police operation against drug dealers in Merthyr. I hope those in the judicial system will also play their part, with no ‘plea bargains’, so those found guilty get maximum sentences, setting an example to others.

Unfortunately, combating drugs in our Valleys is a constant activity and I hope we will soon see more actions of a similar nature. These drug dealers are poisoning our communities, as well as poisoning individuals. I recently visited British military personnel in Kosovo, in the Balkans, as part of my work on the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. I saw there another aspect of the chain of supply chain that puts hard drugs on the streets of our Valleys.

In Kosovo I saw how, ‘gangsterism’, mixed with militant nationalism and separatism, leads to conditions where narcotics and terrorism can breed and coexist. The heroine comes from Afghanistan, often through Turkey, to Kosovo where the drugs are ‘cut’ and smuggled throughout Europe. In that way criminal activities like drug smuggling become strategic threats to our society, as well as to the societies in which they breed.

Most chilling was the detention of a Columbian drug dealer in Kosovo. The reason being, the European heroine market, supplied from Kosovo, is becoming saturated, whilst the American cocaine market supplied from Columbia is becoming saturated. Should these criminals succeed in co-operating the affects are obvious but chilling.

I saw a multi-national military and police, surveillance and interdiction operation, with British Troops and Police advisors, playing a central and vital part. Brave men and women trying to rid Kosovo of the same menace our local Police are trying to rid us of. The recent local police operation to break up the drug supplier’s network in Merthyr also involved some brave under-cover and other police officers. We should praise all those involved in these often under-reported and unsung activities.