YARDIE INFLUENCE SPREADS TO CITIES ACROSS BRITAIN

Police Trace Links Outside London Following The 16Th Drug-Related Killing
This Year

Jamaican-style Yardie gangsters have spread their influence from power bases
in London to other British cities, say detectives investigating a series of
murders.

The news came as a Jamaican man was shot dead in a south London Rastafarian
temple - the 16th black person killed in drug-related violence in the
capital this year.

The 35-year-old Rastafarian is believed to have been trying to hide when he
was shot on Wednesday night.

A Scotland Yard team working on Operation Trident, an investigation into
violence linked to drug dealers and Yardie gangsters, has found connections
with criminals in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, the West Midlands and
Aberdeen.

In London, the criminals are concentrated in Lambeth, Harlesden and
Tottenham. In Bristol, a suspect has been arrested in connection with a
killing at a night club in Windsor, while in Aberdeen arrests were made
involving the sale of heroin. In June, seven people were arrested in
Wolverhampton in connection with the murder of Andrew Burke, 27, whose body
was found in the boot of a burnt-out car in Lewisham, south London, earlier
that month.

While the networks are considered by police to be "loose alliances", they
are all connected with the sale of drugs, particularly "crack" cocaine.
Feuds have sometimes broken out over territory and "respect" between criminals.

Police have also found evidence that Yardie gangsters, who are notorious for
carrying guns, are illegally entering Britain from Jamaica to carry out
crimes. They use increasingly complex routes, often stopping off at another
country first to try to disguise their place of origin. Scotland Yard are
working closely with Jamaican authorities, and four suspected Yardies have
been deported so far this year.

Many of the other criminals involved are British-born men who have been
attracted by the Yardie image of fast cars, designer clothes and guns as
"fashion accessories". The police are particularly concerned about the
unprecedented level of violence involved in the current feuds.

In the latest killing, a Jamaican who came to Britain in August was shot
dead as he hid behind a door at a Rastafarian temple in Kennington at 9.30pm
on Wednesday. Five bullets were fired through the door, and the victim,
nicknamed "Gong", was hit once in the chest. It was the second fatal
shooting at the temple in about a year.

Police officers and medics performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and
open-heart surgery, but the victim was pronounced dead in hospital an hour
later.

Two black men were reportedly seen in a car close by after the attack. A
Scotland Yard source said: "Clearly, we think the motive is going to be
drugs rivalry and respect."

The killing was the first for more than a month following a lull in this
year's murders.

Police have now charged people in connection with 12 of the 16 killings this
year identified by the Trident team, and 19 people are awaiting trial.

In the past month, 15 premises have been searched. Officers have found three
kilograms of crack and seized stolen property worth pounds 100,000 -
including mobile phones - a handgun, a stun gun and a machete.