Paul Lashmar - investigative journalist

Paul Lashmar is a Journalist who has covered many of the major stories of the last 30 years. He is now freelance, working for many organisations and also as a TV Producer, film and programme consultant, author and journalism trainer.

Specialist areas include: * Terrorism * Intelligence * Spying * Organised crime * Offshore crime * Business fraud * The Cold War Paul is available for commissions and appearances

Mann ready to name names in exchange for early release

Former SAS officer admits coup plot but his pact with lawyers rests on giving Equatorial Guinea hard evidence against organisers

By Paul Lashmar

The jailed mercenary Simon Mann has cut a deal with prosecutors in Equatorial Guinea, and will be released early if he provides hard evidence against the organisers and funders of a failed 2004 coup plot, according to sources in the oil-rich West African country.
Mann, a former Guards and SAS officer, last week named the London-based millionaire Ely Calil as the "architect" of the attempt to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Mr Calil has always denied any involvement. Mann also implicated Sir Mark Thatcher as "part of the team".

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The great class A drugs sale – how prices have tumbled under Labour

'Startling and shocking' figures alarm experts who say cities are awash with heroin and cocaine

Street prices for class A drugs have halved since Labour came to power, dropping almost every year since 1997, government figures confirm. Newly released statistics show that heroin cost as little as £40 a gram in 2007, just over half the price it was 10 years ago. Cocaine was £45 a gram, down from £71.

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Government in Crisis (I): Victory to the traffickers: Heroin and cocaine prices on the street are at record lows as seizures plummet

The Serious Organised Crime Agency was to be Tony Blair's FBI, and it took over as the lead agency in the battle against ever more sophisticated drug cartels last year. Unpublished figures demonstrate that – so far – it is losing.

Paul Lashmar investigates 

Hard drug seizures at the nation's borders have plummeted, leaving heroin and cocaine freely and cheaply available on the nation's streets, an Independent on Sunday investigation can reveal. Class A drug confiscations at ports and airports have tumbled for the last four years and serious question marks are now being raised about the ability of the UK's "FBI", the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), to combat drug smuggling. Less than 3 tons of cocaine was seized in 2006-07 compared with over 9 tons in 2004-05 and 1 ton of heroin seized in 2006-07 compared to nearly 2.5 tons in 2004-05, according to official government statistics.

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Fraudster told to hand back £41m or spend eight more years in jail

by Simon Bowers, Paul Lashmar and Duncan Campbell

The Guardian (London)

Gerald Smith, who is serving eight years in prison for a shell company embezzlement, has been ordered to hand back £41m of stolen proceeds or face a further eight years behind bars. He has 12 months to find the cash - the largest criminal confiscation order ever handed down by the British courts - or face a sentence extension. If he fails, he will become one of Britain's longest-serving fraudsters.

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British girls 'knew they were coming to Ghana to smuggle drugs'

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2771011.ece

By Paul Lashmar and David Connett

Published: 15 July 2007

British officials in Ghana were yesterday trying to ensure the two British schoolgirls arrested trying to leave the country with £300,000 of cocaine hidden in laptop bags are moved to "more appropriate" juvenile detention accommodation before their first court date on Wednesday.

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