BRITAIN'S MOST DANGEROUS HARD DRUG DEN

The Noose Is Closing Around Bristol's Notorious Haunt For Dealers, The
Black And White Cafe

Hidden behind deeply tinted windows, the Black and White Cafe in the St
Paul's district of Bristol has a tiny formica counter where you can buy
traditional Caribbean fare such as ackee, saltfish, curried goat and jerk
chicken. But no one comes here for the food.

In a society where open dealing is no longer out of the ordinary, the Black
and White Cafe stands out from the crowd as the biggest and most blatant
hard drug den in Britain.

The Observer can reveal that the run-down building in the middle of a row
of derelict houses has been raided more times than any other premises in
the country, according to Avon and Somerset police. Last weekend alone saw
three separate raids which resulted in 17 arrests and the recovery of
thousands of pounds worth of crack cocaine. The scene of countless
shootings, stabbings and armed robberies - many of which have never been
reported - the cafe is also at the epicentre of increasingly violent gang
activity.

Closed down and boarded up by the city council last year, the cafe
re-opened two weeks ago and ever since has been at the heart of a battle
between Bristol's indigenous drug gangs and an influx of Jamaican dealers
who are attempting to take over the trade. Bristol is the latest in a long
line of cities to be hit by an explosion of Yardie activity as drug gangs
move their activities outside London in search of new markets.

A report presented to Cleveland police last month noted that in 2001, just
one Jamaican dealer was arrested in Middlesborough for selling Class A
drugs. Last year the figure was 32. Jamaican dealers have also been
arrested in North and South Wales, Hull and Aberdeen but nowhere have the
problems been more apparent than in Bristol. Last month officers attached
to Operation Atrium, a major initiative against the city's crack trade,
arrested 56 people, 36 of whom were Jamaican nationals. Last year the same
team uncovered a bogus college in the St Paul's area - scene in the 1980s
of race riots sparked by drugs raids - which had provided long-term visas
to more than 300 Jamaicans. Of those 'students', 45 have since been charged
with drug offences, 11 with weapons charges, one with rape and another with
attempted murder. A further 121 are being detained on immigration offences
while 148 remain on the run.

In many cities the arrival of large numbers of Jamaicans has resulted in
violent confrontations and many detectives believe it is only a matter of
time before one area erupts into all out warfare. Police in Cleveland are
bracing themselves for a rise in gun crime as a result of the Yardie
invasion and similar fears have been expressed in Scotland and Wales. These
same clashes are at the heart of the problem in Bristol and at the centre
of it all is the Black and White Cafe.

During the Nineties, the city's drug trade was in the hands of a local gang
known as the Aggi crew, an acronym formed from the surnames of the founding
members, but in 1998 six of the Aggi crew were jailed after being caught
dealing drugs worth more than UKP1 million. They had been arrested in raids
involving more than 300 police officers who uncovered an arsenal of
firearms including shotguns, handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Last month several key members of the Aggi crew were released on probation
and emerged from prison to discover that in their absence the city's drug
trade had been taken over by a Jamaican gang known as the Hype crew. Arming
themselves, the Aggi crew stormed into the Black and White Cafe and
demanded the Jamaicans pay 'tax' to them if they wanted to continue dealing
in the city. Then, as a final mark of disrespect, they robbed every person
in the cafe at gun point. As they handed over their money and possessions,
the Jamaicans told the Aggi crew that they would not be paying them a
single penny and that the only way to resolve the argument would be with guns.

It didn't take long for Avon and Somerset police to learn about the
potential bloodbath. They responded by taking the unprecedented step of
placing armed officers on 24-hour foot patrol in the most volatile areas -
the streets around the Black and White Cafe and Stapleton Road in the
neighbouring district of Easton. They also launched a series of raids on
the homes of the Aggi crew who, as a result, have now been returned to prison.

The move has significantly reduced the threat of gang warfare but has left
the drug trade solely in the hands of the Jamaicans. Often dismissed as
'disorganised' rather than organised crime, Jamaican dealers in Bristol
have actually brought a new level of cunning to the drug business. Instead
of holding wraps of crack in their mouths, the dealers on Stapleton Road
placed the drugs in old Coke cans which would then be left in the gutter.
After handing over their money, customers would then be directed to the
nearest can. The scam made it almost impossible for police to link batches
of drugs to specific dealers and gave some degree of protection from
prosecution.

To prevent their merchandise being swept away, the dealers also launched a
massive campaign of intimidation against the council's utility workers.
Refuse collections halted altogether in many areas as did road and pavement
repairs (dealers were also hiding drugs in the cracks in the pavement). The
dealers then turned their attention to the workers attempting to install
CCTV systems. Within weeks Stapleton Road had become known as the 'street
of fear' with dealers, prostitutes and muggers operating with virtual
impunity. In a seven-month period, 915 crimes were recorded along a
150-metre stretch.

Although Avon and Somerset police have poured massive resources into
dealing with the problem and made great progress, they admit that they are
far from finding a solution. 'We have made more than 800 arrests in the
past 18 months but on the streets the problem remains as bad as ever,'
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Smart, head of Operation Atrium, told The
Observer. 'There is a lot of gun crime that we do not get to hear about and
we suspect there have been drive-by shootings at the Black and White Cafe
that have never been reported. The place is known around the world. Two of
my officers were on assignment in Jamaica and they overheard two locals
talking about the Black and White being the place to go to get drugs in
Bristol.'

When The Observer visited the cafe last week it was business as usual. The
air was thick with the cloying smell of cannabis and the sounds of hard
reggae. A dozen people were milling about close to the pinball machine
while the main room was dominated by two snooker tables, both of which were
in constant use. According to local detectives the players are often the
main dealers. Drugs are taped to the base of the snooker tables allowing
easy access but again frustrating police efforts to link drugs to
particular dealers.

An attempt to prosecute the cafe's owner, Stephen Wilks, for allowing drugs
to be sold on the premises ended in failure. Last week the city council
pushed through a compulsory purchase order on the cafe which will now be
demolished, though it will be at least a year before the bulldozers move
in. Wilks was not available for comment.

DCI Smart believes the way forward is to introduce what he describes as
'joined-up thinking', ensuring his officers work alongside the probation
service, Customs and the Immigration department to find ways of dealing
with each new threat.

While the demise of the Black and White Cafe is unlikely to produce tears
among the police force, locals are less sure. Christine Boulton, 50, works
with the homeless in Bristol and has lived close to the cafe for 31 years.
'The cafe does have a negative effect on the community but then again, if
you are looking for the local bad lads, sooner or later they will always
end up there. If you shut it down, all you are going to do is move the
problem. If it's not the Black and White, it will just become somewhere else.'