Camden New Journal - EXCLUSIVE by SARA NEWMAN Published: 11 October 2007
Attacked: Camden Town shopkeeper, Farid Khan
THE £1,000 A DAY DEALER
New Journal reveals the crimes that police never hear about
LATE-NIGHT trouble around Camden Town underground station has reached boiling point, with crack dealers running wild and shopkeepers so used to violence that they no longer bother to phone for police, the New Journal has discovered.
The problems faced by late shift workers have been highlighted by the case of a shopkeeper left dazed and bleeding after he was attacked with a knuckleduster.
Police conceded this week that the ‘quality of life’ in Camden Town is ‘sometimes unacceptable’ after being confronted by the findings of a New Journal investigation, including a claim by a self-confessed hard drug peddler that he can make nearly £1,000 night.
Traders caught up in the midst of the chaos – for the first time brave enough to allow their names in print – said they were no longer surprised by the level of violence in the area, which is supposed to be one of London’s leading tourist attractions and a fun late-night destination for party-goers.
Nor are they surprised by the level of brazen street drug dealing, which anecdotally at least, appears to have seen a surge in recent weeks.
Their claims that many incidents go unreported throw doubt over whether police crime statistics can still be held as an accurate survey of the true level of crime in Camden Town.
Farid Khan, 33, said he was punched in the head with a knuckleduster when he challenged a boy for being rude in his shop in Kentish Town Road two weeks ago.
He said he had given up expecting a quick response from police: “What can I do? There’s problems here every week. Every day there’s fighting and people selling drugs. There’s no point calling the police.”
Three weeks ago, a glass pane in the door of his Supa Save shop was smashed when six men stormed in and armed themselves with bottles from the shelves.
Staff claim it took the police half an hour to arrive and arrest them.
More recently, the window of Subway sandwich bar on Camden Road – directly opposite the tube station – was smashed by men throwing bottles from the other side of the street on Friday night.
Sandwich maker Shez Javed, 26, said the incident took place shortly after he started his shift at 11pm.
He said: “I heard a loud sound and the window broke. Someone was throwing bottles at them from the other side of the street. It was the same people who are a lot of the time hanging around here. Two of them came in to try and save themselves.”
Mr Javed claims it was half an hour before the police were on the scene.
He said: “On the weekend we really need some security. When the police arrive the druggies go away. When the police leave they come back. Sometimes they come in the shop to do the deals. When we ask them to stand away from the bar they become rude with us. I don’t feel safe here at all.”
Ali Aboouo, 44, works a late-night shift at Hot Rock kebab shop on the weekends. “There’s a lot of drugs and alcohol,” he said. “Even children as young as 12 are on crack. They leave school and grow up on the streets. What can the streets teach you but bad things?”
The New Journal witnessed chaotic scenes in Camden Town between three and six in the morning on Saturday night and approached one crack dealer after he punched a Camden reveller for apparently insulting him.
He said: “I can’t be disrespected because I got a reputation out there. We are all animals but we all have a heart. It’s just there are limits.”
The 25-year-old dealer, who refused to be named, said he was 11 when he ran away from his abusive step-father. Now a father himself he wants to provide, for his daughter.
He said: “She’s my one love. I want the best for her.”
One night dealing crack can earn him £900, he said, so he works twice a week, nearly always at weekends.
He added: “ There’s a lot of money to be made but it’s not easy. I know it’s the devil’s work but if I wasn’t doing it someone else would be. Anyway, what am I going to do? There are no skills for me. Even when I was in Feltham (prison) I never even got counselling.”
At no point between 3am and 6am did police patrol the south end of Kentish Town Road by foot.
Camden police said yesterday (Wednesday) that council funding for the recruitment of an additional 18 community support officers and 10 police officers, promised in February this year, would reduce drug dealing in Camden.
Camden Police Chief Inspector Paul Morris said: “We are looking forward to the positive impact this will have.”
Inspector Morris said that four police stations provide continuous patrols of the borough and that a 24-hour response team and officers from the Metropolitan Special Constabulary work weekend shifts.
Inspector Morris added: “We regret that the quality of life sometimes in Camden Town at weekends is not acceptable, and we welcome intelligence about drug activity in the borough.”
Camden Town Community Inspector Taylor Wilson said that Safer Neighbourhoods Teams had been working additional weekend shifts.
Comment on this article. (You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)
