DRUGS FACTORY DISCOVERED

is the headline on the front page of our local weekly-The Mourne Observer is about a drugs find in a neighbouring village. And in the very (former) house (image above) of the owner of the local riding school where the Huttonian girls had their early riding lessons. The owner of the school is at pains to point out that she sold the property some time ago -to a local developer whose recent attempts to put more concrete into the few remaining building sites in Newcastle have been happily frustrated by the planning officials (But there is no suggestion that he is in any involved in the drugs business:


CCHINESE drug producers are believed to be behind a substantial cannabis find in Maghera, outside Newcastle, at the weekend.


A quarter of a million pounds worth of the drug was discovered by police in a bungalow in the heart of the village on Friday evening.


The find, the second large haul in the area in three months, has prompted police to probe whether or not it is linked to the £1.5m haul at a large-scale cannabis factory in Castlewellan in June.


No arrests were made during the weekend’s operation in Maghera; however three men of Chinese nationality have appeared in court in connection with the June discovery.(Full Story Here)



Chinese incomers have allegedly been active in this part of County Down and it is said that their main market is the Middle East which makes Maghera a rather curious choice of a manufacturing site- Chinese nationals are hardly inconspicuous in South Down and their facial characteristics may not be in their favour as they seek to avoid the dragnet. One retired copper believed that former colleagues had had problems issuing descriptions of the wanted men so had the notion of downloading an image of a Chinese person from Flickr and then reissuing it a a 'Wanted Person' circular. 'But it may not bear any resemblance to the suspects' a senior officer may well have protested. No matter-the theory being that to the locals those guys all look the same and if the pollis can pick up a enough people as a result of 'information received' they are sure to find the ones they want amongst them.

So if you are Chinese or indeed from anywhere in the Far East visiting Norn Iron, my advice is keep well clear of South Down. Perhaps a change of plans?

Duns?

Labels: Drug busts, Maghera, Norn Iron

  ¶ 12:41 PM