Jamaica's London connection

A police squeeze on Yardie gangs in Jamaica will inevitably raise fears at Scotland Yard that the island's most wanted drug dealers will attempt to escape to London.

On a trip to the UK last month, Jamaica's commissioner of police, Francis Forbes, acknowledged that Yardie criminals used Britain as a haven, flying here with false documents and returning home 'when they believe that everything has cooled down'.

He said that his officers, working with detectives from the Yard's Operation Trident unit, had identified the 10 major dealing cartels on the island and that 'many of them' already had a presence in the UK.

To help British police identify Yardie fugitives, the Jamaican government recently signed a 'memorandum of understanding' that will mean two officers from the island will be permanently based in the UK from the new year.

The officers will be taken to Yardie strongholds in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool and Manchester to see if they can pick out known criminals.

The Jamaican government has also opened up the island to British police and customs investigators.

Peter Phillips, Jamaica's minister for national security, has said this 'unprecedented amount of cooperation' was necessary because the drug gangs were 'causing havoc not only in Jamaica, but on the streets of London and other cities in the UK'.

Police in the UK and Jamaica know that the gangs on the island are under pressure. A joint operation targeting drug mules has led to dozens of arrests in Kingston.

The price of muling has also shot up in recent weeks - a sure sign that the dealers are struggling to get cocaine to the UK.

But police admit that the success brings twin dangers; a rise in violence as the criminals become more desperate, and the prospect that the dealers will flee the island, possibly heading for Britain.