by Laura Newey
Kamil* is a slim, handsome 23 year old British drug dealer.
He recently graduated from Leeds University with a master’s degree, in civil engineering.
He is now living in Manchester with his 27 year old, drug lord boss and close friend Jamal*.
Kamil was born in Britain, but his parents are migrants from Lebanon and Iraq, his dark, Middle Eastern features portray this background.
He belongs to a very wealthy family who own a large construction business in the U.K.
At first, Kamil is very open in discussing his new profession.
He appears very calm, as he speaks via Skype,
‘’I don’t want to depend on this as a real job.
‘’ I wouldn’t even call it a job it’s more of a bridging gap for me, until I can get something that involves my degree.”
‘It’s too risky to stay in this business too long.
‘’I was so lucky this summer, ’ Kamil declares with a smirk on his face.
‘’I left Ibiza two days before the raids.
“Loads of guys and girls we know are still over there, waiting for their hearings. It won’t be good for them.’’
Kamil is referring to the recent raids, by Spanish and British police forces, on the Balearic island, Ibiza.
Four kilograms of cocaine and 38,000 ecstasy pills were confiscated by the police, along with 56,000 Euros, which is roughly 79,000 Australian dollars.
‘’I could have quite easily been one of the kids that the papers are talking about,” Kamil says.
The British newspaper, The Guardian, describes the raids as a crack down on dismantling British gangs which are over running the island each year.
Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) believes the trade of the class A drugs are being networked, via two rival gangs based in Manchester and Liverpool.
The gang leaders from each city send armies of drug dealers to Ibiza, so they are able to supply the island’s holiday makers with narcotics.
This occurs throughout the summer months, which run from June to September.
Kamil is distracted by his boss and roommate, Jamal, who has just entered the apartment.
Jamal approaches the computer screen with a vacant look upon his face.
He is standing next to Kamil wearing a black hooded jacket, with a designer shirt visible underneath.
The jacket is zipped down to his chest, revealing not only his shirt but a large gold, Star of David hanging from a thick chain.
The chain is on full view and is a striking symbol of his identity.
Jamal begins to boast about his ability to get international flights for a quarter of their actual price, and when asked how he achieves this he arrogantly replies: ‘’You’re on a need to know basis, doll”.
Jamal seems to be playing a game with his well prepared answers.
He is very defensive and not as bold as Kamil.
Jamal is excessively proud about the career he has invested many years, of his youth, building.
‘’I’m a full time International drug dealer,” Jamal confidently over emphasises.
The apartment, where Kamil and Jamal live exudes wealth and style, overlooking the Old Trafford football grounds and the soon to be BBC studios.
It is elegantly furnished with expensive, tasteful paintings on the walls.
There is a transparent glass table in the middle of the small but elegant living room.
Jamal is now kneeling next to this table, scraping into place with his credit card, neatly perfected lines of cocaine, and snorting them vigorously.
Kamil is intensely staring at his computer screen, asking Jamal to explain who has paid their debts this week. In between his lines of cocaine, Jamal recites people’s names and figures to Kamil.
Kamil then looks back to the camera on his computer, after a long pause, he continues to engage in the memoir of his summer spent as a drug runner in Ibiza.
‘’No I actually hate it there man, can’t go back now, well don’t think I can, it’s too dodgy for us really.’’
Kamil pauses and in a lower tone utters,
‘’But I guess I would if I got asked.’’
Kamil’s reluctance to revisit Ibiza is due to this year’s raids being the biggest since a crackdown last September, in which Spanish police captured the ring leaders of a drug cartel originating from Liverpool.
Ibiza has been known amongst the thrill seeking tourists, for too long, as a spot which tolerates the use of drugs and the crime which inevitably follows.
With the combination of the Spanish National Guard, and Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency, Ibiza has sought to reduce the import of narcotic substances.
They believe that with tighter customs boundaries, and harsher consequences for the dealers and ring leaders, Ibiza’s crime rate will decrease.
‘’I don’t take them myself, never have, and never will, it’s not my kind of thing.’’
Kamil says this very convincingly, as he reaches for his cigarettes and pulls one from the pack.
In between long inhales of nicotine he describes the reasoning for this choice of career.
‘’The money is too good, I can’t get a job doing what I’ve studied and I’d be making this kind of money anyway, but with twice the amount of hours and effort.
‘’My dad’s business is doing ok, but he’d have to cut staff to find me a job, and I’m just bridging a gap right now, so it wouldn’t be worth the loss of another employer for him.
‘’ I want to get a decent post grad offer, one of the big time companies will do,” Kamil laughs.
This situation isn’t just a problem for Kamil.
Thousands of graduates are facing similar problems, with the high unemployment rates in Britain.
The job market, according to Britain’s Recruitment and Employment Confederation, has hit an all time low.
The past 14 months, leading up to October has seen the lowest rate of employment.
Fewer vacancies are made available due to companies, wishing to increase salaries for existing staff, rather than recruiting new staff.
This is making it impossible for students, just graduating to get a job in their subject matter.
Britain, with the current coalition government, is failing millions of graduates by having a chronic shortage of skilled jobs.
Dr Simon Stevens is a politics and history lecturer at the University of Notre Dame, with a particular interest in British politics.
‘’The global financial crisis has hit Britain really hard, and with the government’s subsequent spending cuts, poverty will inevitably increase.
‘’Millions of people are already poor, and millions more will join them.
‘’ I don’t know that we can really compare then and now, but the Great Depression gives some idea of the scale of the problem.
‘’It amazes me how so many people are blind to the link between poverty and crime.
‘’When poverty increases, so does crime.
‘’The financial crisis that precipitated the rise in poverty came about because banks and other financial institutions were not properly regulated.
‘’Poverty is not a natural phenomenon,” Dr Stevens says.
This link between poverty and crime is certainly evident on the streets of Britain.
It is not a coincidence that the majority of Brits arrested this summer in Ibiza were students and graduates.
Crime is being used, by recently graduated students, as a route to fix the financial crises which has hit Britain, but has also hit them.
Students usually graduate with several thousand dollars of debt and although this isn’t repayable until the graduate is working and earning a certain amount of money, it may create a feeling of anxiety and disillusionment amongst them.
The goal of a well paying interesting career just isn’t available to them.
Society makes stereotypical judgements which lead to categorisations of what criminals are or ought to be.
A new generation of well educated, graduates are taking over a big area of criminal activity, this being the drug scene.
It needs to be understood what is leading graduates into carrying out crime.
Britain’s graduates need job opportunities not prison sentences.
Finally, Dr Stevens sums up with a prediction of what lies ahead for Britain:
‘’ Unemployment and poverty are about to hit Britain hard.
‘’Unstable times lie ahead.’’
*The names of the two drug dealers have been changed.
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