DRUG DEALERS SELL CRACK FROM HOT DOG STANDS

ONE hot dog, no onions, plenty of crack cocaine. Unlicensed hot dog stands
have become London's newest drug menace as "rocks" of crack at pounds 20 a
time join the fast food menu.

Last week undercover reporters were offered drugs three times by hot dog
sellers frying frankfurters for nightclubbers and late-night drinkers in
the West End.

On a bustling weekend, Soho is full of teenagers and students spilling out
of nightclubs. This is a market that appeals to drug pushers; it is easy to
turn young buyers from cocaine and ecstasy to harder drugs such as crack
and heroin. Hot dog stalls are ideal as they are on the streets until 2 or 3am.

Vans drive through the streets in the evening dropping off hot dog trolleys
and their operators at strategic points. The gangs work in threes: one
armed with a knife, ostensibly to chop the onions, who does the cooking and
"cuts" the drug deals, a runner who collects the drugs and a spotter who
watches for police.

The first encounter was with a hot dog seller trading outside a nightclub
in Charing Cross Road. As our reporter ordered a hot dog, he asked the man
behind the counter, who was blond, English and in his twenties, where he
could "score". The seller suggested the reporter give him money and asked
what he wanted. The reporter replied: "Rock [crack]."

The seller warned: "It could your life up. Is your life worth anything? But
you want to enjoy the night, don't you?"

Fifty minutes later the reporter returned to find a rock of what appeared
to be crack cocaine waiting for him, but he did not proceed with the sale.

On Friday night the reporter was offered crack for pounds 20 by a young
Turkish Cypriot selling hot dogs near the Palace Theatre, home to the
musical Les Miserables, in Cambridge Circus. There were two other stands in
the immediate vicinity and the seller looked frightened as he went to pick
up the drug from his runner - ostensibly to get change for pounds 10. A man
at a nearby stand offered a second reporter "dope, ecstasy, anything you want".

Even without drugs to supplement their income, takings from the trolleys
are attractive to the criminal element. A hot dog stand that costs pounds
1,500 can take pounds 1,000 in a single night.

Licensing officers from Westminster city council seized 22 unlicensed hot
dog trolleys on New Year's Eve alone, but they are cheap to replace. There
are even "safe havens" for the hot dog men: the royal parks, like St
James's, where the usual trading standards regulations do not apply, and
Trafalgar Square, which is overseen by the culture department.

Peter Reeves, Westminster's street licensing officer, said: "It is a worry
that the hot dog stands may be a front for drug peddling. It is such an
open opportunity because money is exchanging hands without people taking
too much notice."

Jonathan Djanogly, chairman of environmental services at Westminster, said:
"The public do not realise it is organised crime. They think it is a sole
trader trying to eke out a living. If a sole trader did turn up, he would
soon be stamped on."

Scotland Yard said it was aware of the problem posed by hot dog sellers and
would examine any drug-dealing evidence.