ALBANIAN Valentin Roci was arrested last year for possessing drugs with intent to supply and for illegal entry to the UK.
The drugs case was dropped because the authorities decided to just deport him.
SWNSAlbanian Valentin Roci returned to Britain on a small boat and has now been caught dealing drugs again[/caption]
GettyThe middle-class cocaine users are financing some very bad people indeed[/caption]
Hurrah. Good riddance.
But guess what? He simply returned here on a small boat and has now been caught dealing drugs again.
This time, he’s been sentenced to 30 months in prison after which he will be deported for a second time.
The cost of this merry-go-round of misery is high — not just financially, but to one’s faith that the Government’s “smash the gangs” mantra is anything but an empty promise.
Particularly as it’s just been revealed that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s one-in, one-out policy has so far resulted in 3,567 in, none out.
In Roci’s defence, his lawyer (presumably paid for by us) mitigated: “Mr Roci came here in a dinghy and that generated a debt of £4,000 to the people who got him here.
“My instructions are that he owed a debt to those who brought him into this country and they put him into work.”
In other words, it’s not just the smuggling gangs operating with seeming impunity; it’s also the drug dealing gangs they’re supplying hapless couriers for.
Which brings me to the culpability of those who, behind their Farrow & Ball-painted front doors, lead lives largely unaffected by criminality.
The middle class cocaine users.
While ordering their organic mung beans and donating to “good causes”, there’s every chance that when they buy “Charlie” to shove up their nose, they’re simultaneously financing some very bad people indeed.
Awarded funding by the British Academy to research the “crime-terror nexus”, criminology expert Dr Mohammed Rahman says: “There is a marked overlap between drug-dealing and terrorist financing because terrorists ultimately need money to commit mass-casualty attacks.
“The big cash cow and revenue generator for terrorist groups is class A drugs, including cocaine.”
ReutersA group of migrants on an inflatable dinghy leave the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the English Channel to reach Britain[/caption]
Consequently, the amount of illegal narcotics being detected at Britain’s border is nine times higher than a decade ago and the higher demand for cocaine is reportedly being driven by the middle classes who can afford it.
So the next time someone with a privileged life orders a pizza with “special topping”, perhaps they’d like to bear that in mind.
Dr Rahman plans to create an online tool to highlight patterns of criminal behaviour that could be funding acts of terror.
He will then present his findings to those in power because, astonishingly, there are no government agencies currently investigating the link.
Which perhaps tells you all you need to know about why the UK has become a veritable playground for drugs gangs.
The story of Valentin Roci may seem like small beer, but it highlights the hopelessness of flaccid policies that lead to porous borders.
WHEN Boris Johnson grew a beard on holiday, he says that, allegedly, it “made me more attractive to my wife”.
But he shaved it off because, he adds: “It made me look so scruffy and unprofessional that it would do me serious economic damage – and therefore make me considerably less attractive to Carrie!”
Surely he’s not suggesting she married him for any reason other than his boyish good looks and charm?
JUDE’S MORE MART
JUDE LAW is garnering five-star reviews for his latest film The Wizard Of The Kremlin.
Having played pretty boys in The Holiday and The Talented Mr Ripley (one of my favourite films), he’s done well to segue in to grittier, non-heart-throb roles such as Henry VIII.
And now he’s seemingly nailing it as Vladimir Putin.
Even though he looks more like Martin Freeman.
AN increasing number of MPs are reportedly relying on AI to help write their Commons speeches.
Apparently, if they start with “I rise to speak in support of . . . “ it’s a dead giveaway.
Did AI play a part in the “island of strangers” speech the PM made but later claimed not to have read properly before he delivered it?
Who knows? But there are plenty of MPs who could be replaced 24/7 by an AI-generated bot, and one doubts we’d even notice.
Fashion’s double standards
Julia Roberts and Amanda Seyfried wore the exact same outfit to an event
STOP all the clocks, cut off the telephone etc . . . two famous women have worn the same outfit to red-carpet events.
On the left is Julia Roberts wearing a Versace “look” (that, er, looks suspiciously like a bog-standard jacket, shirt and jeans ensemble) and on the right is Amanda Seyfried wearing the exact same thing.
Cue an online “sack the stylist” furore (i.e. three people). But it turns out the women actually share the same stylist and it was an intentional nod towards sustainability.
Good for them.
But it remains that two men could turn up to 100 events in exactly the same suit and no one would actually notice.
TENNIS CAUGHT
THE Polish millionaire who went viral after snatching a tennis player’s cap from the hands of a young fan has now apologised for his actions.
Piotr Szczerek has also returned the treasured item to its recipient, a boy known only as Brock.
Lessons have no doubt been learned.
Piotr now knows that, these days, bad behaviour in public is nearly always caught on camera.
And Brock has learned that, despite the #bekind messages he’s fed at school, the adult world is still full of dog-eat-dog types who didn’t get that memo.
A SMALL but growing group of taxi drivers in Japan are being paid to tend the graves of other people’s relatives and offer prayers.
These “grave-visiting proxies” started in the pandemic and many continued because a lot of people are too busy to go themselves.
Whatever next, an Uber-style proxy for someone to have sex with your partner because you can’t find the time?
TRAVIS IS THE NEW DENIS
APTravis Kelce is the modern-day Denis Thatcher[/caption]
MEETING the right man when you’re one of the world’s most famous women is quite the challenge.
Yet Taylor Swift appears to have managed it.
How? Well, having watched them chatting about their relationship on new fiancé Travis Kelce’s podcast, credit must go to him.
He wanted to go on a date with her, said so publicly, and once they became an item, was more than happy to be seen as “Mr Swift” despite being an American football superstar himself.
He tells everyone how great she is, has her back, and is gloriously unaffected by the prospect of forever being in her shadow because he’s secure in himself and his own achievements.
They’re a modern-day Maggie and Denis Thatcher.
HUSH, HARRY
PRINCE Harry has announced he will visit the UK on Monday to attend the WellChild annual awards ceremony in the capital.
It will be his first visit here since losing the court case about his security arrangements.
Begging the question: Why make a song and dance about it?
After all, if you fear for your safety, wouldn’t you just fly in quietly and make a surprise appearance rather than publicise it in advance?
Particularly when you’ve spent the last two years telling anyone who’ll listen that you’re a primary target for every bad person in the world.
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