Up Port in Shock as Killer Gangs Muscle in on Tourist Haunts

When a hooded man wearing a baseball cap strolled into a sushi bar close to the historic Ambassadore Hotel and executed three diners in cold blood, the police knew they had a problem.

Two of the dead were members of the port's increasingly murky underworld and serious players in the arms smuggling trade which seems to have found Regina Up Port as its nerve center.

The two Sword World nationals had chosen the fashionable Savory Grill for a Fiveday night meal with their Regina girlfriends. Seated at a communal table sipping their beers and waiting for their chateau briand to be served up, they presented an easy target.

The assassin picked them off at close range with a powerful laser rifle in a matter of seconds, killing one of the two men's girlfriends in the process. The other girl escaped with her life.

Though the killer fled, a man was arrested earlier this month and remains in police custody on undisclosed charges.

The nature of the killings has sent shock waves through the port's police force, prompting the authorities to embark upon the biggest Mafia clampdown that the starport has seen in years.

Gangland feuding and tit-for-tat killing is not new to Up Port - there are around 15 gang-related deaths every week - but its growing intensity has shocked the police, who are especially worried that it is now being done so openly.

In the past, gangland figures settled their scores in private in the small hours in well-known trouble spots far from the upper levels of the port and its tourists. But in recent months the old rules of the game no longer seem to apply and innocent passers-by have sometimes found themselves caught in the crossfire.

The Savoy Grill, now reopened for business and attracting large numbers of diners anxious to eat at the same table as the underworld victims, is in the heart of level two. It is also opposite a police station. Level 2, where it is located, is lined with hotels, restaurants, bars and a busy shopping center. The pavement outside is awash with pedestrians, and slide walks trundle past narrow townhouses.

Its central location and the brutal nature of the killing set alarm bells ringing at police headquarters. A line was crossed and the gloves have come off.

In the administrative center, sitting in an office cluttered with police memorabilia, one of the men charged with cleaning up the mess, Police Commissioner Seymour Globber, is adamant that there is no need to panic. But Commissioner Globber does admit that the Savoy Grill killings and a spate of other killings in the last two months, often in broad daylight, represent a radical departure for Regina Up Port.

"Two things are special about this. The first is that we've had a lot of killings in a very short period of time and the second is that they are now taking place on the street on Level 2. We've also begun to find more and more heavy weapons - the kind used in wars or by terrorists."

There is growing evidence, he adds, that the port is filling up with mobsters from planets of the former neutral zone who are heavily involved in the illicit arms trade. Many of the exotic weapons found in recent months are of Zhodani origin. "More and more Zhodani people are taking leading positions in organized crime gangs. Some of them are bodyguards or hitmen and come only for a few days and do their job. Others stay longer. A few years ago, we had lots of Vargrs but that's over. Now we have Zhodani."

The Regina police regularly exchange intelligence with their counterparts on Jenghe where a large number of Zhodani mobsters operate.

Four weeks ago, Jan Femer, a leading underworld figure, was gunned down as he sat in his car near Aguilon Park." He was shot at close range; it was very professional and he died immediately," said Commissioner Globber.

Seven weeks ago, Sam Klepper, a leading figure in the Satan's Slammers and supposedly a leader in the Regina underworld, met his end during a shootout in a crowded shopping center. It was 5 o'clock in the evening and again the action took place opposite a police station. Klepper's bodyguards returned fire but were unable to protect their boss.

A few weeks ago a Darrian gangster was also executed at close range on downtown Regina, again opposite a police station and again in broad daylight.

According to the authorities, gangland feuding and the battle to retain control of the port's complicated network of arms and drug rackets has now become so brutal that even the criminals are running scared.

"The criminal gangs are very nervous. So many people are talking [to the police as informers] that they are scared for their own lives. They are wondering who will be next," says Commissioner Globber.

The authorities have decided that the only way of dealing with the problem is by meeting force with force.

In the last two months, the police, in cooperation with Regina Security, have mounted a series of armed raids bursting into the port's cafes, restaurants and brothels. The scale of the operation has been enormous and it is not over yet.

On 101-1123, 500 armed officers stormed addresses around the port including a number of houses in the downport's sprawling suburbs. Other raids have followed and 1500 people have been arrested.

Many of those detained turned out to be illegal transients and have since been deported. Others have already been locked up while the authorities have drawn up a long list of people they want to lock up if they can find them.

"We want to let the criminals know that they're not safe and cannot carry out their crimes without punishment. In the last few months we've worked harder than ever before. We had to do something because we couldn't tell the people of Regina that we were doing nothing. We know exactly what to do," promised Commissioner Globber, who has more than 20 years of police experience.

In the course of their raids, the authorities have uncovered evidence that Regina now lies at the center of a vast arms smuggling network. Arsenals that could equip a private army have been confiscated and the serious nature of the weaponry has alarmed the police.

"When you see the amount and the kind of weapons we find, you know that they cannot be for a bank robbery or a lovers' quarrel. We have no concrete evidence but we think they are destined for foreign countries and terrorist organizations. It can't be anything else." The Real Ine Givar and the Sword Worlds terrorist group Nein are cited as possible recipients.

Police warehouses are rapidly filling up with heavy anti-tank weapons, assault rifles, ACR's, grenade launchers, poison gasses and an exotic array of fantasy weapons.

Commissioner Globber said: "We're talking about shooting umbrellas, mobile phones and suitcases. This is real Dick Salamander stuff."