FIRST PUBLISHED 13/06/2010 IN THE IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY
By: Michael O’Farrell
MILLIONAIRE head shop baron James Bellamy is poised to open a chain of his lucrative stores on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast – in partnership with the nephew of a former Sinn Féin anti-drugs campaigner.
The move puts Bellamy in a prime position to profit massively from a recent police crackdown on the ruthless mafia gangs who normally run the tightly controlled drugs trade in Bulgaria’s tourist resorts.
With the summer tourist season in full swing and many local drugs lords in jail, Bellamy’s range of controversial chemical highs will likely fill the current gap in the market as thousands of wealthy Russians flock to the nightclubs and casinos of this fashionable summer destination.
A hotel owner in the area said: ‘The local drug dealers, they are currently caught by the police and their big bosses are in prison. It’s chaos on the drugs market at the moment, it’s not clear who will sell the drugs this summer.’ The Irish Mail on Sunday can also reveal that Bellamy’s partner in the new Balkan operation is a nephew of Christy Burke, a former Sinn Féin councillor and strong anti-drugs campaigner for 40 years.
Poric Burke has been associated with Mr Bellamy for a number of years and was once in charge of the Nirvana head shop on Clanbrassil Street in Dublin.
Christy Burke said: ‘I’m not my brother’s keeper or my nephew’s keeper and my position on drugs and addiction and the distribution of drugs, from alcohol right up, is well known. That includes head shops.’ Although the claims are exaggerated, Poric Burke has reputedly told Bulgarian and Irish associates he has close links to former IRA figureheads.
One Bulgarian landlord who dealt with Burke said: ‘He told me his father is from IRA and he was involved in robberies of banks. For me, this is not serious, these are talks on a table.’ In fact, Poric’s father Patrick Burke, a Republican living in Dublin’s inner city, is a former taxi driver with no criminal record.
However, another distant family member, also named Patrick Burke, is a convicted heroin dealer.
Poric Burke himself – known to friends as Podgie – has no criminal convictions other than an old shoplifting charge, although a full Garda intelligence file was prepared on him in 2006.
Photographed with Bellamy in Bulgaria’s Sunny Beach resort this week, Burke is listed, together with Bellamy, as the manager of Nirvana Gift Stores Ltd – a new Bulgarian company registered on May 19, just two weeks after the Irish Government’s ban on head shop highs.
The company address is one of two Sunny Beach apartments bought by Burke last summer beside Cacao Beach, an infamous mafia-controlled nightclub. Neither apartment has yet been registered for tax purposes in Bulgaria.
Solicitor Teodor Kebedjiev, who handled the paperwork for Bellamy’s new Bulgarian firm, told the MoS he had known Mr Burke for a couple of years and had helped him buy his apartments. He said: ‘I’m not familiar with the business of James Bellamy in Ireland, but if there is a connection with drugs, this is embarrassing for me.
‘I don’t know if the goods he’s preparing to sell in his stores are legal in Bulgaria. I’ve only been told he wants to open stores in Bulgaria and to sell some kind of goods.’ Galin Tenev, manager of the complex in which Burke and Bellamy live, said that, unlike others, Burke did not want his properties leased to holidaymakers.
‘We had no idea what is the business of Burke family,’ he said. ‘What I understand now about the company Nirvana Gift Stores worries me very much. This would seriously damage the image of the hotel, which is now very good.
‘We definitely will not allow Nirvana Gift Stores any similar activities on our territory. We’ll even strengthen the security measures.’ Mr Tenev confirmed that Burke is seeking to rent shops with very specific requirements – close to main thoroughfares but out of view, with small windows.
He said: ‘I asked him as a joke if he is going to sell drugs. He just laughed and said he would sell some special things. I asked what specifically will be sold, but he gave me evasive answers.’ Mr Tenev also indicated that Burke appears to be associated with a Russian who has told locals he represents a chemical plant.
An Irish Medicines Board prosecution against Bellamy, involving several charges, which could lead to a possible jail sentence, is set for court tomorrow.
