‘Somali drug gang chased out of Southend'

A SOMALI gang which has been targeting vulnerable people in Southend has left the town, a police commander claims.

Chief Insp Andy Prophet has said a sustained police crackdown has ousted the thugs who were flogging heroin and crack cocaine in towerblocks across the town.

Speaking at a Chalkwell Residents’ Association meeting, Chief Insp Prophet responded to questions from residents about the extent of drug problems in the town.

He said: “There is a drug scene in Southend. We had some issues three to four months ago in four high rise blocks. We had a small number of Somali drug dealers who placed themselves in those high rises and there were some nasty assaults on other drug dealers.”

He added a number of police operations involving drug sniffer dogs and search teams had targeted the blocks, searching communal areas where dealers were known to stash drugs.

No drugs were found, but he said: “We did three operations with dogs up in the town’s flats in the mornings and evenings and they left because we made things awkward for them. We have displaced them and it is not affecting our community now.

“There is still a drug scene though, so if anyone has any concerns then call us and we will deal with it.”

A Southend resident, who did not wish to be named, did not share Chief Insp Prophet’s optimism the problem had gone away. He said: “There are still a lot of Somali drug dealers hanging about in Southchurch Road. They are quite blatant about it.

“It is rubbish to say they have gone. Police knock on doors and ask people if they have seen them, but they are not going to say anything because they are too afraid.”

Problems have centred around town centre blocks Quantock, Chiltern, Malvern and Pennine and other town centre areas in recent months.

The Echo highlighted the problem in January after a drug addict claimed in court to have been targeted by the gang.

Peter Marshall, 40, of York Road, Southend, who was subsequently jailed for 12 weeks for theft told Southend Magistrates’ Court he had been manipulated by the dealers.

At the time Mr Prophet told the Echo: “Nobody has contacted Essex Police claiming to have been targeted in the manner highlighted at court.

“We are running regular operations from Southend in response to concerns or information we receive about the dealing of drugs, but this does not focus purely on one group of individuals.”

The Somali Catastrophe - Centre of African Studies, SOAS 18/5/2010

People,


There is set to be a talk, organised by the Centre of African Studies [SOAS], entitled the Somali Catastrophe. On the large scale manifest disaster that is taking place in the Horn of Africa nation. The date is 18 May 2010 [on this day in 1991 Somaliland was liberated by its people in a collective struggle against the genocidal state forces led by te dictator Mohammed Siad Barre and declared its independence from Somalia] the talk will begin at 6pm in the Brunei Gallery.

I hope to see you all there.

Do you know what is being said in the corridors of power regarding Somalis?

Hansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings in both Houses. The section below is from a transcript recording the debate on crime in the House of Parliament on the 2 March 2010.

James Duddridge Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the trends in levels of illegal drugs sold by Somali nationals in (a) Southend and (b) England and Wales. [318205]

Mr. Alan Campbell Labour MP for Tynemouth [holding answer 24 February 2010]: A formal assessment into the trends in the sales of illegal drugs by Somali nationals has not been made. Drug offences are not separately identifiable by nationality.

The illegal supply of drugs is a serious matter. Trafficking in controlled drugs of all classes needs to be tackled robustly in order to reduce the harm drugs cause to communities and organised criminality associated with their supply.

The context here is that there is a growing problem with drugs related crime in the environs of Southend, the article in the local paper [click here to read it] infers that this is down to Somali drug gangs in the area.

Now I ask you; what the hell is going on when Somalis are only mentioned by the established elite in the context of crime/immigration/unemployment/a general lack of educational attainment/health related issues/presenting a jihadist existential threat to the way of life of modern developed secular societies? It is a sad day people when we are not aware of our decrepit state of affairs.

Where is the detailed response from the Somali Youth Development Research Centre on this matter to those who have associated Somalis with criminal drug gangs using empirical data? The lack of a response from those who claim to be [a] experts on the subject and [b] representative of the community in question is startling.

The words of the Members of Parliament who are set to target crime and immigration in the next 5 years with some gusto should strike fear in the Somali community and move its members to strive for some balance in the debate about the direction they are going in within the UK.

The existential threat of Somali jihadists in the UK is once again raised in the UK press...

Fears grow that al-Qaida is constructing a safe haven in east Africa with UK groups' help

By Mark Townsend - Home Affairs Editor - The Observer - Sunday 2 May 2010

A growing number of Britons are answering the call to jihad in Somalia and joining the ranks of militants linked to al-Qaida ahead of an American-backed drive next month to strengthen the country's army.

Sources say that the influx, which includes Britons of Pakistani origin, is heading to the Horn of Africa as the US tries to shore up Somalia's government in the face of a broadening Islamist insurgency.

Warnings have been sounded about British-based groups offering funding and expertise to individuals seeking to travel to Somalia to fight alongside al-Shabab, the militia aligned with al-Qaida's global campaign.

US State Department sources said yesterday that it had noted an influx of "foreign fighters" arriving in Somalia to swell the ranks of al-Shabab. Popular routes from Britain to Somalia involve Kenya or Djibouti, the small republic that borders Somalia on its north west. One western official said some flights to the republic had, at one stage, been dubbed the "Djibouti express" because on occasion so many young Britons were on board. The precise scale of the exodus is unclear, but "scores" of British fighters are known to have travelled to Somalia.

Concern is growing over the drip-feed of British men attending Somali training camps. Officials are keen to limit the country's potential to evolve into an alternative hideout for al-Qaida extremists from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Somalia's ungoverned spaces raise the risk, say analysts, of the country replicating Afghanistan's role as an al-Qaida safe haven when under Taliban control.

There is fresh concern over Somalia's proximity to Yemen, the Arabian peninsula base for al-Qaida. Last week the British ambassador to Yemen survived a suicide bomb attack as his convoy travelled through the capital, Sanaa. A Pentagon source said recent events meant the US was developing "significant concerns about the growing threat" in the area.

America has brought US special forces into Yemen to work with the army to try to counter the al-Qaida threat. It has also spent $6.8m in Somalia supporting training for nearly 2,000 soldiers, touted as the biggest effort to rebuild the Somalian army in 20 years.

The issue of Somalia has been repeatedly raised by Jonathan Evans, director- general of MI5. "There is no doubt that there is training activity and terrorist planning in east Africa – particularly in Somalia – which is focused on the UK," he has said.

British security sources cite the case last month of an Australian man of Somali origin who was suspected of working with al-Shabab, but who escaped from police custody in Kenya, as an example of the new wave of foreign fighters entering the country.

The movement between Somalia and the UK has led to increased efforts to detect potential terror networks linked to Islamic militants basedin east Africa. The Somali community in Britain numbers about 250,000, the largest in Europe, with the bulk of those coming to the country as refugees within the past 20 years.

Two Somali asylum-seekers were among the four men convicted of the failed attempts to bomb the London transport system on 21 July 2005.