Pubdate: 20 July 1999
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: Guardian Media Group 1999
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Author: Gerard Seenan

"HEROIN GODFATHERS" HELD IN BIG SCOTS DRUG SWOOP

Some of the people believed to be the most important players in Scotland's
heroin network have been arrested in the biggest undercover drugs operation
north of the border.

More than 40 people appeared at a specially convened court in Edinburgh
yesterday after a series of weekend raids netted what police believe to be
the godfathers behind the Scottish capital's heroin trade.

Only a moderate amount of drugs was seized, but the 200 police officers
involved in the raids recovered computer and other records which detail the
administration of Edinburgh's heroin supply.

The operation was yesterday being hailed as one of the most successful,
with police believing it will hit the dealers who have, since the heroin
and subsequent HIV epidemic of the 1980s, gripped Edinburgh.

"This has been a professional and well executed operation in which we have
struck at the every core of the drugs supply network," said Tom Wood,
deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders police.

For more than six-months, a team of undercover officers posed as dealers to
infiltrate the upper echelons of the heroin trade. Modern surveillance
equipment helped them net the documents and break the ring.

Police will now begin sifting the evidence to identify assets paid for with
drug money which could then be confiscated following any convictions. 
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