The Times Online does (~warning its the august silly season)
There are more than 150 illegal stations across Britain. The communities worst afflicted by gang murders are often those that resound to the pounding hardcore hip-hop, reggae and “grime� transmitted by pirate radio stations. Many are said to be run by criminal gangs who use them as a front to sell drugs. Police raids have found drugs, guns and ammunition among piles of CDs.
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Pirate DJs have been involved in the world of gangs and drug dealers when coded text messages are read over the airwaves[2]. But they see themselves as social entrepreneurs, who have an influence over communities that authority figures lack.
this is more like it the traditional 999/airport anti pirate radio spin
Ofcom operates a community radio licensing scheme and awarded 107 local licences last year. Mainstream radio stations accuse pirates of interfering with FM signals, to the annoyance of listeners and emergency services. Special K said that pirates were catering for music fans whose tastes are ignored by official stations.
I’ve been around stations that were raided for drugs. Other stations sent the police![1] cop on, if these guys were criminals they would shy away from 100watts of tower block publicity, you do not run a criminal empires from a honey pot studio were the fuzz may turn up any minute.
[1] I never went to prison! No drugs were found, I did not run ‘that’ station!. Other stations would try and hop our frequency while the transmitter (bungie) was leaving the scene. Radio broadcasting without a licence is a civil offense and selling Class A drugs is a criminal offense.
[2] you do not co-ordinate crime on public airwaves with code it is counter productive, but if you work for the Times you may think counter productive is a process of kitchen assembly.