Pubdate: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 Source: Sunday Times (UK) Copyright: 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd. Contact: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/ Author: Maurice Chittenden and Adam Nathan Note: Additional reporting: Edin Hamzic DRUG DEALERS SELL CRACK FROM HOT DOG STANDS ONE hot dog, no onions, plenty of crack cocaine. Unlicensed hot dog stands have become London's newest drug menace as "rocks" of crack at pounds 20 a time join the fast food menu. Last week undercover reporters were offered drugs three times by hot dog sellers frying frankfurters for nightclubbers and late-night drinkers in the West End. On a bustling weekend, Soho is full of teenagers and students spilling out of nightclubs. This is a market that appeals to drug pushers; it is easy to turn young buyers from cocaine and ecstasy to harder drugs such as crack and heroin. Hot dog stalls are ideal as they are on the streets until 2 or 3am. Vans drive through the streets in the evening dropping off hot dog trolleys and their operators at strategic points. The gangs work in threes: one armed with a knife, ostensibly to chop the onions, who does the cooking and "cuts" the drug deals, a runner who collects the drugs and a spotter who watches for police. The first encounter was with a hot dog seller trading outside a nightclub in Charing Cross Road. As our reporter ordered a hot dog, he asked the man behind the counter, who was blond, English and in his twenties, where he could "score". The seller suggested the reporter give him money and asked what he wanted. The reporter replied: "Rock [crack]." The seller warned: "It could your life up. Is your life worth anything? But you want to enjoy the night, don't you?" Fifty minutes later the reporter returned to find a rock of what appeared to be crack cocaine waiting for him, but he did not proceed with the sale. On Friday night the reporter was offered crack for pounds 20 by a young Turkish Cypriot selling hot dogs near the Palace Theatre, home to the musical Les Miserables, in Cambridge Circus. There were two other stands in the immediate vicinity and the seller looked frightened as he went to pick up the drug from his runner - ostensibly to get change for pounds 10. A man at a nearby stand offered a second reporter "dope, ecstasy, anything you want". Even without drugs to supplement their income, takings from the trolleys are attractive to the criminal element. A hot dog stand that costs pounds 1,500 can take pounds 1,000 in a single night. Licensing officers from Westminster city council seized 22 unlicensed hot dog trolleys on New Year's Eve alone, but they are cheap to replace. There are even "safe havens" for the hot dog men: the royal parks, like St James's, where the usual trading standards regulations do not apply, and Trafalgar Square, which is overseen by the culture department. Peter Reeves, Westminster's street licensing officer, said: "It is a worry that the hot dog stands may be a front for drug peddling. It is such an open opportunity because money is exchanging hands without people taking too much notice." Jonathan Djanogly, chairman of environmental services at Westminster, said: "The public do not realise it is organised crime. They think it is a sole trader trying to eke out a living. If a sole trader did turn up, he would soon be stamped on." Scotland Yard said it was aware of the problem posed by hot dog sellers and would examine any drug-dealing evidence. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake