SCOTS DRUG GANGS EXPAND OVERSEAS

SCOTTISH gangsters are mixing with some of the world's most violent
criminals as they open lucrative new drug trafficking routes.

In a bid to maximise profits, Scots drug barons are increasingly bypassing
English middle-men and dealing direct with suppliers in countries such as
Colombia and South Africa.

Detectives fear regular contact between home-grown gangsters and foreign
traffickers will result in rising levels of violence and reliance on guns
in Scotland.

Scotland on Sunday can reveal that the National Criminal Intelligence
Service (NCIS) recently briefed Scottish police forces on the growing
threat posed by trafficking drugs direct to Scotland.

The incentive to buy direct from source is enormous. Scots criminals
typically pay an English trafficker UKP20,000 to UKP30,000 for a kilo of
cocaine.

They can double their money by selling it on the streets for UKP40,000 to
UKP60,000.

But if they buy it direct from a Colombian drugs cartel the cost can be as
little as UKP2,000, meaning a potential 30-fold return on their money.

Heroin, largely produced in Afghanistan, generally comes to Britain via Turkey.

There it is sold in bulk for as little as UKP600 for a kilo, which is worth
about UKP80,000 after it is broken up into wraps sold to users in the UK.

In South Africa, a major source of cannabis in Britain, the herbal variety
costs just UKP30 a kilo. Scots dealers buying from England might pay
UKP1,250 to UKP1,500 a kilo, which is worth about UKP3,000 when sold on.

A senior Scottish police officer involved in the fight against drugs
confirmed criminals had recently started dealing directly with suppliers in
places like South America, South Africa and Turkey.

"South America is becoming more and more of a feature with Scots
criminals," the officer said. "There are about 50,000 Colombians living in
the south of England. I'm not saying every Colombian is a criminal but
there are big communities where links can be made.

"The cartels are looking for markets all the time and they are trying to
push out to peripheral countries like Scotland and the Nordic countries."

The fear is that Scotland's new breed of traffickers will, along with cheap
drugs, get a taste for violence and an easy source of guns.

Colombia has one of the highest murder rates in the world with several
thousand killings every year. Kidnapping and street robbery, mostly drug
related, are common.

Johannesburg is known as the world's crime capital. Each year about 5,000
murders are committed in the province of Gauteng, which includes
Johannesburg and neighbouring Pretoria. South Africa has the world's
highest murder rate at 59 killings per 100,000 people every year.

The officer said top-level Scottish criminals were on a par in terms of
ruthlessness with any in the world, but mixing with Colombian cartels and
South African crime gangs could see an increase in gang warfare.

"If you raise the profits, raise the stakes, then I would expect more
violence to happen," he said. If you look at the nature of people involved
in gangs in Scotland, a lot of them would be regarded as being very hard
people. We have some significant guys who can put it about, not just abroad
but ones who have relocated to the south-east of England, Kent particularly."

He added that some Scots living in Spain, Holland and Belgium - hubs of the
drugs trade in Europe - were helping gangs at home deal with drug
"wholesalers". Until about two or three years ago Scotland's criminals
hardly featured on the international stage, but in late 2000 a UKP20m
heroin shipment thought to be heading to Scotland was seized in the Baltic.

It is believed Scots who settled down to live in Estonia after Scotland's
international football games there in 1993 and 1996 were involved in a plot
to smuggle drugs.

Jim Orr, director of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA), said
drugs like cocaine and heroin had historically been sourced from major
English cities such as London and Liverpool.

He said: "In recent times operational activity has identified that a number
of Scottish crime groups have by-passed these traditional routes and
directly engaged with international crime groups and cartels.

"The SDEA, in partnership with the Scottish police forces and other law
enforcement agencies, is actively involved in tackling those organised
crime groups, which transcend Scottish borders and whose activity
ultimately impacts on Scottish communities."

Losing Battle Against Smuggling

SCOTTISH criminals have been caught trafficking drugs worth millions of
pounds in the past few months. The authorities are believed to catch only a
small fraction of the illegal substances being brought into the country,
but the extent of the seizures gives some idea of the amount being smuggled in.

In October, four Scots appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court after an operation
by Customs and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency discovered the biggest
ever haul of cocaine destined for Scotland.

A shipment with an estimated street value of UKP50m was seized at
Felixstowe in England. In February two Scots were jailed for a total of ten
years in France after they were caught using a private plane to smuggle
drugs into Scotland. Double-glazing magnate Ian Whyte, 47, and Richard Law,
42, both from Perthshire, were arrested with four kilos of heroin worth
more than UKP500,000 in a joint operation by Scottish and French police.

This month a Glasgow man was charged with trying to smuggle an estimated
UKP200,000 worth of cocaine into the country through Birmingham airport. He
had flown in from St Martin in the Caribbean via Paris. A Nigerian man was
also charged with attempting to smuggle UKP260,000-worth of cocaine through
Edinburgh airport.

Last month, two Iranians were jailed for four and a half years after
Customs officers caught them with UKP40,000-worth of opium at Glasgow
Airport. In August last year, 33-year-old labourer William Nimmo, from
Thornwood in Glasgow, was jailed for eight years at Chelmsford Crown Court
after pleading guilty to drug smuggling charges.

He arrived at Harwich, Essex, as a foot passenger on the evening ferry from
the Hook of Holland. Customs officers found cocaine worth nearly UKP250,000
concealed in his Samsonite suitcase.

In July, a Dundee lorry driver was sentenced to a total of 14 years in jail
after Customs caught him trying to smuggle heroin and cannabis worth nearly
UKP6m through Dover.