A recently opened gateway at a secluded part of the West Belfast peace wall is being utilised by drugs couriers as a drop off point according to both Clonard residents and a local IRSP representative.
Michael Kelly IRSP spokesperson for the Lower Falls has been contacted by several local residents concerned at the presence of known drugs dealers who appear to be exploiting the secluded nature of the area around the St Galls Avenue peace wall as a ‘blind spot’ at which drugs and money can cross hands in relative privacy.
The issue came to ahead on Saturday morning last when a local taxi driver returned home from a night shift and found what appeared to be a bag of Heroin lying in the driveway of his home. The man who does not want to be named approached the IRSP with the drugs who in turn arranged for them to be handed over to priests in Clonard Monastery for safe disposal.
Michael Kelly explained “A handful of residents came together informally following this worrying find on Saturday morning, and the IRSP were invited to attend at which point we were handed what is clearly a bag of drugs. Further concerns were expressed to us about the constant presence of both strange cars as well as those belonging to well known drugs dealers which park at all hours of the day and night in the cul de sac beside a recently opened gateway which connects two separate housing developments that sit just below the peace wall”.
Another Clonard resident Ciarán Cunningham, who in the past with the help of Father Des Wilson helped to dispose of large amounts of confiscated Heroin, confirmed his belief that what was found in his neighbour’s garden was indeed the deadly drug.
“I was handed what appeared to be a small bag of cut heroin, ready for sale or personal use”Ciaran Said, “it was not a dark as pure Heroin which is a sign that it has already been cut with some form of thinning agent. I logged the find with a solicitor and then brought it to Clonard Monastery where the priests agreed to dispose of it for us”.
Michael Kelly said that the local people are “furious that drug pushers were using a quiet street brimming with playing children in order to play their disgusting trade”.
“It seems that both drug pushers from outside west Belfast and their local counterparts are taking advantage of the secluded nature of St Galls Avenue in order to meet up and pass over drugs. God only knows what could have happened if a child had found this package and not an adult alert to the dangers”.
“The IRSP have subsequently been asked by local people to assist them in tackling this worrying development, we fully intend to do so”.
