DRUG DEALERS BEWARE

U.S. Cops Who Busted Dennis Pamplin Want To Help Smash The Bermuda Connection

A hunt has begun for the Bermuda half of a major drug-running ring,
which police believe was exposed by the arrest of Dennis Pamplin and
his alleged accomplice, Brian Henry.

Narcotics cops in the U.S. believe they have "cut the head off" a
significant international crime organization with the arrests.
Officers said yesterday that more arrests are imminent as they look
for the duo's alleged accomplices on the island.

Mr. Pamplin, 58 - the husband of UBP MP Patricia Gordon-Pamplin - and
Mr. Henry, 31, are accused of conspiring to deliver more than 2,000
pounds of marijuana to the streets of Bermuda. Outlining the full
background to the case for the first time, officers said that a large
number of suppliers, dealers and middlemen must have been involved in
an operation to shift such massive quantities of drugs.

Special Agent Douglas Collier, of the Drugs Enforcement (DEA)
Administration in Newark, said that his agency is working closely
with detectives in Bermuda in order to secure more arrests.

He said: "We are turning over every stone. I anticipate more arrests.
We are talking about a very significant crime organization... When
you cut the head of the snake off, the rest will follow. Individuals
in Bermuda, if they were part of this organization, they should be
reading your newspaper and they should be very concerned."

We should make it clear that neither Mr. Pamplin nor Mr. Henry has
been convicted of any offence - at this stage the allegations are
just that - unproven allegations.

Mr. Collier believes that Mr. Pamplin and Mr. Henry had already made
five shipments of drugs to Bermuda, with a combined weight in excess
of 2,000 pounds. The pair were arrested at a warehouse in New Jersey.
Using sniffer dogs, detectives found 700 pounds of marijuana - worth
an estimated $15 million on the streets of Bermuda - hidden inside
concrete pillars that had been specially hollowed out for the
purpose. Mr. Collier believes the pillars would have been shipped to
Bermuda under the pretence that they were building supplies.

Mr. Collier said: "In New Jersey, we think of Bermuda as nice
weather, lovely people, family time on vacation - these people were
hiding behind that and using that image to export their poison.
Marijuana is a chemical that destroys families, and the people of
Bermuda should be thankful that there is 700 pounds less of it on the streets."

Mr. Pamplin and Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, the former deputy leader of
the UBP, were married 15 years ago, although the couple are now
estranged. Court papers filed after his arrest state that Mr. Pamplin
has been living in New York with a girlfriend. Mr. Pamplin has faced
drug-related charges in the U.S. once before, after he was allegedly
caught in possession of $97,000 following a high-speed car chase with
police. It's unclear whether those charges have been disposed of.

According to reports in the U.S. media, Mr. Pamplin denies the new
charges, saying that he is in the asbestos removal business and was
only visiting the warehouse on July 15, the day of his arrest. His
attorney, Paul Bergin, insists that Mr. Henry pointed the finger at
Mr. Pamplin in order to clear himself.

Court records state that a search of Mr. Pamplin's home last week
turned up records of his bank accounts in the U.S. and Bermuda.
Thousands of dollars had been wire transferred between the accounts
in the past three years, prosecutors say. Mr. Pamplin is being held
at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, on $2 million bail,
and his case will be heard later at a federal court in Manhattan.

We asked the Bermuda Police Service to comment for this story but
were unable to get a response.