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Gibraltar is losing the drugs war 

GIBRALTAR'S old reputation as a smuggling centre is at risk of being revived as Spanish smugglers turn to violence during trips across its waters to pick up drugs in North Africa.

Armed only with wooden batons, the Royal Gibraltar Police are powerless to prevent the traffic when faced with the flares, harpoon guns and knives of the drug smugglers. Their boats have been ridden over by smugglers and there is little they can do to respond.

The Gibraltar government wishes to play down the issue, fearing that the drug trade will tarnish its current status as an economically successful, tightly-controlled zone. The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana, has successfully altered the town's former image as a den of smugglers and a shady tax haven.

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