HOUSING BLITZ ON DRUG BARONS

A MAJOR crackdown is set to be launched on criminals who use
Edinburgh's booming property market to launder drug money.

Police and law chiefs are said to believe some of the biggest
suppliers of heroin and crack cocaine to city streets are buying and
selling houses as a way of hiding their illegal earnings.

They are already under investigation by the Scottish Crime and Drug
Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), which hopes to trace more than UKP10
million worth of luxury houses, cars, bank accounts and other assets.

Now the Serious Crime Taskforce, which holds its first ever meeting
in Edinburgh today, is set to make the issue a top priority.

Scotland's chief prosecutor, the Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini, and
senior police officers, have been invited to bring a "shopping list"
to Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill with what they need to take on
the drug barons.

It will include stopping them channelling their illicit profits into
the safety of property investments where they cannot be touched.

A source close to the taskforce said: "It's well known that a lot of
drugs money is going into flats. The problem is how to tackle it.

"There's a mixture of deals going on - buying on the open market,
buying property abroad. Some [offenders] are buying from each other.
You could have a situation where one buys a UKP150,000 flat for
UKP50,000. He automatically makes UKP100,000 quite legitimately.

"It's a growing problem and the same thing happens in Glasgow and
elsewhere. We need to ask what do we have to do to get in and about
these people."

The taskforce will also look at the way dealers take the finance out
of the country when they are buying drugs abroad. For example, it is
easier to keep an eye out for UKP50,000 in notes stashed at the
bottom of a suitcase than a UKP50,000 Cartier watch on someone's wrist.

Police also believe some dealers will have credit cards that are only
usable abroad where they access huge overdrafts, allowing them to
bankroll big deals in Scotland while they are overseas. The taskforce
will also look to extend proceeds of crime powers so officers are
able to go further back into an offender's criminal career and
reclaim money made through offending.

Tom Wood, chairman of Action on Alcohol and Drugs in Edinburgh, said
tackling the financial side was vital to winning the war on drugs.
"You've got to try to take the profit out of drug dealing, because
that is why they do it," he said.

"No matter how many dealers you arrest, no matter how many you put in
prison, there will always be others to replace them because of the
incredible profits they can make. That's why police have to try and
attack their profits."

He added: "However, the real solution will only come when we are also
able to tackle the demand for drugs. As long as there is a demand,
there will always be a supply."

The former Lothian deputy chief constable also welcomed efforts to
stop drugs money being channelled into the property market, but he
warned that police should not stop there. "It has long been suspected
that property is one hiding place for drugs money," he said.

"There is money laundered in property, although it is even easier
with high-powered cars that can be bought for cash."

Taskforce Aims To Take 'Mr Bigs' Off Streets

THE Serious Organised Crime Taskforce will include prosecutors,
police chiefs and revenue and customs experts from across Scotland.

Also on board are the country's top organised crime fighters, the
Serious Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and the Serious Organised
Crime Agency. The Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, who was set to
chair the first meeting of the taskforce in Edinburgh today, said:
"By bringing together specialist crime-fighting expertise, skills and
knowledge in one forum, we will provide the direction, legislation,
regulation and co-ordination needed to ensure there is no hiding
place for organised criminals in Scotland."

He said he wanted to send a clear message to the underworld's "Mr
Bigs" that ministers were determined to put them out of business.

"No longer will they be allowed to profit on the backs of decent,
hardworking Scots and their families," he said.