Former First Minister's brother-in-law faces trial for heroin supply and extortion linked to a man's fatal fall from a Dundee flat
Ryan Munro's deadly plunge ties to Class A dealing amid Scotland's record 1,180 drug deaths in 2023
Humza Yousaf's brother-in-law stands trial for drugs and extortion in a case linked to a fatal fall, spotlighting SNP-led failures amid Europe's highest drug death rates. Elite detachment persists as street-level horrors claim lives unchecked.
Commentary Based On
Scottish Daily Express
Humza Yousaf's brother-in-law goes on trial over 'extortion and dealing heroin and cocaine'
Former First Minister’s brother-in-law faces trial for heroin supply and extortion linked to a man’s fatal fall from a Dundee flat.
Ramsay El Nakla, 37, entered not guilty pleas at Edinburgh High Court to charges of extorting money through threats and supplying Class A drugs.
Co-accused Stephen Stewart, Jennifer Souter, and Victoria McGowan face additional counts of culpable homicide after Ryan Munro plunged from a Morgan Street window on January 10, 2024.
Prosecutors allege the group intimidated Munro into an “extreme state of fear,” prompting his deadly escape.
El Nakla’s ties run directly to Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s former SNP leader who resigned in April 2024 after 13 months in office.
Yousaf held power during a national drugs emergency declared by his own government in 2021.
Scotland recorded 1,051 drug deaths in 2022 and 1,180 in 2023—rates triple England’s, the highest in Europe per Public Health Scotland data.
Drugs Crisis Persists Under SNP Watch
SNP ministers pledged a “national mission” to halve drug deaths by 2030.
Targets missed every year; 2024 provisional figures show no reversal.
Heroin and cocaine supplies charged in this case mirror street-level drivers of the epidemic.
Dundee’s Morgan Street and Balmoral Gardens flats hosted alleged dealing from July 2023 to January 2024.
Co-accused face charges for cocaine and heroin supply across those addresses.
El Nakla’s alleged involvement spanned just days in January, centered on the Munro incident.
Elite Distance from Street Realities
Yousaf built his career on social justice rhetoric, including anti-poverty drives.
His brother-in-law’s courtroom appearance underscores a disconnect.
Political families mirror the societal pathologies leaders fail to contain.
No public statement from Yousaf on the trial, per available reports.
Silence fits a pattern: SNP figures distance from scandals without accountability.
Recall 2021: SNP councillor’s son jailed for drug supply; no leadership reckoning.
Institutional Failures Amplify Harm
Police raided the flats post-Munro’s death, but charges emerge a year later.
High Court trial, projected to December 19, tests prosecution claims.
Jury hears from experienced counsel under Lady Drummond.
Yet Scotland’s justice system strains under caseloads, with crown office delays routine.
Drug supply convictions averaged 1,200 annually pre-2020, per Scottish Government stats.
Post-pandemic surges outpace enforcement.
Cross-Party Scottish Drug Paralysis
Problem predates SNP dominance.
Labour-led Scotland pre-2007 saw rising methadone prescriptions, no deaths peak.
Conservatives in Westminster devolved powers without strings.
Result: Devolved inaction across Holyrood parties.
Yousaf’s 2023 drug summit yielded pilot safe consumption rooms—opposed by UK law, delayed indefinitely.
Deaths climbed regardless.
What Functional Governance Demands
Effective response requires border controls, treatment scaling, dealer disruption.
Scotland trails: Portugal-style decriminalization rejected; rehab beds lag at 1,600 versus needed 5,000.
Taxpayer funds £1.1 billion yearly on problem drug use, per Audit Scotland.
Outcomes: Munro’s death, El Nakla’s trial.
Ordinary citizens bury relatives while elites’ kin navigate the fallout.
This trial exposes Scotland’s rot at street and summit levels.
Political proximity to crime reveals governance voids no party fills.
Drug deaths claim lives weekly; family ties to suppliers indict the system entire.
Britain’s northern polity hollows under unaddressed decay—leadership optional, failure guaranteed.
Commentary based on Humza Yousaf's brother-in-law goes on trial over 'extortion and dealing heroin and cocaine' by Dave Finlay on Scottish Daily Express.