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The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Trooping the Color celebration will be lacking six soldiers from the Irish Guards after they were arrested along with a Coldstream Guard over an alleged drug ring. The men, who are under command of Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, stand accused of dealing class A drugs and money laundering as part of a suspected cocaine racket.
“As part of a planned operation, the RMP arrested six Irish Guards soldiers and a Coldstream Guardsman veteran from across the UK on suspicion of conspiracy to supply drugs and money lending and laundering offences,” an Irish army spokesman said in a statement. “The Army does not tolerate any type of illegal or fraudulent behaviour. As this is now the subject of an independent RMP investigation, it is inappropriate to comment further.”
Five of the seven men were reportedly released on bail, but they will not be taking part in the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. The arrests, first reported by the British Sun, stem from what the tabloid described as a “loan shark operation” in which they allegedly loaned money at inflated interest rates and then laundered the payments.
The arrests—which were carried out in a series of raids in the U.K., Wales and Northern Ireland—come just weeks after Prince William presented the regiment with new colors and bestowed upon them the honor…
