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UK: Drugs raid on former Rastafarian temple

Tim Hall

The Telegraph

Thursday 12 Apr 2007

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Police raided a former Rastafarian temple today and arrested 23 people
for allegedly dealing in cannabis and crack cocaine.

More than 100 officers were involved in the raid, executed under drugs
and firearms legislation.

The Metropolitan police said today that the premises - a squat made up
of three terraced houses - had for many years been used as a Rastafarian
temple, but in recent weeks had been taken over by drug dealers.

Chief Superintendent Martin Bridger, area commander for the London
borough of Lambeth, said this morning’s raid had followed weeks of
surveillance.

He said: “This is a culmination of a long-term surveillance operation
where there is clear evidence that the premises were being used to
supply both Class A and B drugs.

“In the past few weeks we’ve arrested around 200 people coming away from
the premises and they have even had cannabis or crack cocaine on them.”

He said that the premises in Kennington, south London - thought to be
London’s oldest squat - had been taken over by criminal gangs.

He said: “Some of the management committee from the Rastafarian
community have come to me to say that it has not been used as a
Rastafarian temple for a number of weeks.

“These other people have taken it over. It has a long history of being a
Rastafarian temple but that is not what it is being used for [at present].”

Mr Bridger said a search of the properties, which are decorated in the
green, yellow and red colours of Rastafarianism, would now take place.

But he added that there was “clear evidence” that firearms had been on
the premises in the past.

Earlier, police said that the 3am raid came after reports of “a high
level of serious criminality,” which had been “adversely affecting the
local communities.”

The Rastafari movement, or Rasta, emerged among working-class black
people in 1930s Jamaica.

Among a complex set of religious and cultural beliefs, Rastafarians
believe in the sacred use of cannabis. There are thought to be more than
one million Rastafarians around the world.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

 

 

 

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