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Camden News - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 14 August 2008

Court steps drama

Court steps ‘drug arrest’ drama as mass Asbo battle continues

Lawyers for alleged teen gang ‘The Money Squad’ challenge hearsay

A MEMBER of the alleged TMS gang was arrested on the court steps as the landmark legal attempt to ban them from Camden’s cannabis “frontline” entered its final phase on Thursday.
The 13 teenagers said by police to comprise “The Money Squad” appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court for the fourth hearing in the drawn-out attempt by the authorities to impose a mass-Asbo, excluding them from Camden Town and banning them from associating with each other for three years.
Both police and council view the teenagers as being at the heart of the “aggressive cannabis market” in Camden Town, known to dealers as the “frontline” of Camden High Street, Chalk Farm Road, and the banks of the Regent’s Canal.
But as the lawyers acting on behalf of four of the youths demanded a special hearing to challenge the validity of the police’s hearsay evidence against them, another of their number was surrounded by officers on the court’s forecourt and led to a police van, arrested on suspicion of drug-dealing. The 17-year-old is the third alleged member of the TMS 13 to be arrested for cannabis offences since the proceedings began in April.
Another 18-year-old man received a new interim Asbo on Thursday banning him from Camden Town after he was allegedly found with cannabis in his underpants near Regent’s Canal on July 22. He faces a Youth Court trial in October.
The defendants, all aged 16 to 18, and some currently in custody for other offences, appeared briefly at the court to confirm their names and addresses (which cannot be reported for legal reasons).
As the magistrate asked whether the Asbos were accepted or contested, lawyers answered on their behalf: “Contested”, in 11 cases. Two have accepted the terms.
The proceedings have been overshadowed by the unsolved murder of Sharma’arke Hassan, 17, who was a fourteenth defendant in the proceedings until he was fatally shot in Gilbey’s Yard, Camden Town, on May 24.
The 13 will appear for the last time at full trials scheduled for October, and for the time being are all excluded from much of Camden Town either by interim Asbos or bail conditions.

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