VIOLENCE and death is almost an everyday occurrence on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, where Yardie drug lords hold sway. But, as the Argus has revealed, Yardies are now in Gwent. We sent Edward Davie to Kingston, to report on the Yardie menace.

It was 3.30am in August Town, and a man was lying in the street, his body riddled with bullets.

I had arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, less than 24 hours earlier, looking to find out more about Yardie gangs.

I little suspected I would be seeing the results of the Yardies' reign of terror so soon. Last year the Argus first revealed that Yardie gangs were active in Gwent.

By the end of the year, police had staged a series of raids and netted hundreds of thousands of pounds in drugs and drug money, in the Valleys and Newport. Now I was in Kingston to learn more about the Yardie operation.

The combination of greed, poverty and corruption has given rise to a gang culture that kills hundreds of people a year in Kingston alone.

As a former British colony, Jamaica has substantial links with the UK. Most Kingstonians have relatives in the UK and regard Britain with affection. One told me: "Britain and Jamaica are more than friends, we are cousins."

But for Yardies, Britain is simply another area to exploit. Yardie violence and drug-dealing has risen since the 1980s. The communities, the police and rival drug gangs found themselves up against unprecedented violence, serious weaponry and high mobility as Yardies jetted back and forth from Kingston. In London in 1999 the Metropolitan police set up Operation Trident to tackle Yardie-linked murders.

The gangs spread to other parts of the country - and last year reached Gwent. High-profile police operations have helped crush the Yardie threat so far - more than 40 people face drug-trafficking charges as a result of swoops in Newport and Ebbw Vale.

So far the police have contained the problem but unless the root causes are tackled it will always remain a threat.

Since the 1970s Jamaican party politics and the gang culture of Kingston's ghettos have been inextricably linked.

The city is unofficially divided into areas controlled by gangs that are either affiliated with the Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) or the People's National Party (PNP).

One source at The Gleaner, Jamaica's national paper, said: "In return for the gang's support the ruling party rewards them with government contracts that provide employment and other perks. It's called garrison politics and, at times of heightened tension like elections, virtual civil war can break out."

The practice of garrison politics was reinforced during the height of the Cold War when the American government armed gangs affiliated with the right wing JLP opposition. Now political links with the criminal gangs are part of everyday life and leading politicians often openly attend the funerals of gang dons (leaders).

A significant reason for this relationship is that the dons wield immense power through their links with Columbian drug cartels and traffickers. A British security specialist in Jamaica - who did not want to be named - said: "The government here may not directly get its hands dirty with trafficking drugs but it could not be happening without some kind of tacit approval.

"But what is the prime minister supposed to do? If he could stop the cocaine trade tomorrow the country would burn down, there would be war."

Professor Bernard Headley, a criminologist at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, said: "The gangs are affiliated with political parties but unlike Northern Ireland the gangs don't have a political agenda and so there cannot really be a peace process. "In Jamaican drug trafficking there is no hint of a larger political or ideological intent, such as overthrowing the government. Illegal gain is the only game, and moving and selling dope the only agenda.

Present political arrangements suit them fine, particularly since a high level of well-nurtured cosiness exists between local drug kingpins, select senior political operatives and agents of the state, particularly in the top tiers of the security forces. This not withstanding the gangs from time to time coming under surprise, police liquidating missions."

In the 1980s a deal was struck between the Jamaican Yardie dons and the Colombian drug cartels. Jamaica became the key transit point for South American cocaine heading for US and European markets.

The Jamaicans became vital handlers of the drug and often ended up following the product and taking over the markets directly.

The poverty of Kingston's ghettos, politicians colluding with drug traffickers and the insatiable demand for hard drugs in the UK combine to drag both countries down.

PICTURED: A suspected Yardie gang member is searched by a Jamaica Defence Force soldier.