High-tech dealing in drugs makes detection difficult

"Drug dealing has become more complex. It's more fluid and much more high-tech now, with mobile phones and cars. Before it was more structured and visible, now it's gone underground and more difficult to detect."

Det Insp Tony Quilter of Cork City Divisional Drugs Squad is talking about the changes he and his staff have noticed in Cork over the past two years.

Det Insp Quilter points to the Garda crime statistics for 1999 to indicate the extent of the problem. Of the 1,018 prosecutions under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 165 were for possession for sale or supply, or drug dealing.

While the Garda crime statistics refer to offences rather than people (one person may be prosecuted more than once), Det Insp Quilter believes the number of people with multiple prosecutions in any one year is small.

"By and large though, the number of guys with two prosecutions in the one year would be small so it would be accurate to say that we prosecuted around 150 to 160 different drug dealers in Cork last year - from the minnows up to big operators.

"This year we're running about 5 per cent ahead of where we were at the same time last year and by and large they would be different people so by the end of the year, if current trends continue, we'll have hit another 150 to 160 dealers in Cork city."

Given that drug dealing has gone high-tech and underground with the advent of mobile phones and thus become more difficult to detect, an increase could indicate either greater efficiency by the Drugs Squad or more drug dealing or both.

"Two or three years ago, we would have been talking about open dealing. A guy would go to some green area in the city, throw some stuff in the corner. He'd wait until some fellow came along and they'd do business. It was all visible. But now it's become much more fluid thanks to the technology. A fellow has a bit of gear. He gives this fellow a ring on his mobile. His name is John. They meet. `Meet you here; meet you there.' Which makes it more difficult for us."

Drug dealers can come from any area and any class. "It's not just the guy from the local authority estate, it crosses all social divides. Drug dealers come from all walks of life," he says.

The Garda statistics don't give breakdowns other than age and gender.

In 1999, 283 males between the ages of 17 and 21 and 461 males over 21 were prosecuted for drug offences in Cork city while just 14 females between 17 and 21 and 32 females over 21 were prosecuted.

Cannabis resin remains the most popular drug, accounting for almost 70 per cent of prosecutions (708 of the 1,018 prosecutions) with ecstasy the next most popular drug, accounting for just over 20 per cent (209 of the 1,018 prosecutions).

Other convictions related to: amphetamines (36 prosecutions), heroin (7), cocaine (5) and cannabis herb (2). There were no prosecutions for LSD in Cork in 1999.

"We have a high incidence of ecstasy but it wouldn't be correct to see Cork as Ireland's ecstasy capital. Ecstasy is readily available throughout the country and Cork is no different to anywhere else in that regard," says Det Insp Quilter.

While he's reluctant to generalise, he does concede that ecstasy is more likely to be found among younger people on the club scene. "When ecstasy started out 10 years go, you'd hear guys saying, `Your man took two last night' but you talk to youngsters now and even allowing for a little exaggeration, some of them are talking about taking six or eight or 10 tabs on a night.

"It's frightening to see them when they've taken that many ecstasy on one night. You can see them in a crowd. They're frothing at the mouth. Their faces are caved in and their teeth are falling out. It really is frightening."

As worrying for Det Insp Quilter is the increasing acceptance by young people of drug dealing. Drug dealers are no longer the pariahs they once were.

"There's an acceptance among young people of dealing, no matter what socio-economic background they come from. They know Mr X is a dealer but they won't give him up. It's part of their social circle and that acceptance is very worrying." There is, Det Insp Quilter reveals, a big turnover in the number of people caught drug dealing. Some go away, some go to prison and some die but there appears to be no shortage of people willing to take their places.

"A lot of people we'd catch are in it first time and if they're caught, they get out of it but you've a lot of guys who are caught and they don't want to be caught again so they go underground, so to speak, and they get somebody else to handle their drugs." Stiffer sentencing, including the introduction of a mandatory 10-year sentence for anyone caught with more than £10,000 worth of drugs - as happened in Cork earlier this year when John Brett was given 11 years - is having an effect, Det Insp Quilter believes.

"The laws are working and it's helping us. People are less likely to go storing stuff but you will always get the immature youngster coming up who will take the chance because he perceives he's not known, and that's from all walks of life." While the gardai can and do tackle the supply side of the drugs equation, Det Insp Quilter also recognises the importance of tackling the demand side of the problem and he firmly believes in greater education, not just for the young, but also for their parents.

According to Det Insp Quilter, the Cork City Divisional Drugs Squad often gets calls from people, both users and dealers, who want to get off drugs. He believes greater assistance should be available from the State to help such people.

"The State have people in place working with kids who want to get off drugs, trying to steer them back into employment but to my mind there should be special training courses, ideally residential ones, for people trying to get out of drugs.

"If a youngster from an area wants to get off drugs and he's attending a course nine to five, Monday to Friday, he's back in the community each night from where the problem may have emanated in the first place "With the greatest will in the world, it still isn't easy for a 17-year old who may be very immature, whereas if there was a residential system where they could come out of their community for six or eight weeks and attend a vocational-type skills course, they'd have a much better chance."