October 29, 2007	Monday	Shawwal 16, 1428

LONDON, Oct 28: Buckingham Palace refused to comment on Sunday on a newspaper report that a member of the British royal family has been targeted in a blackmail scandal involving sex and drugs use.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the royal, who was not identified for legal reasons, called in the police to investigate the case involving two alleged blackmailers seeking $100,000.

The men reportedly demanded the money in return for not publicising a video purportedly showing the royal engaged in a sex act, the weekly paper added.

In telephone calls to the royal’s office in August, the alleged blackmailers had also claimed to have proof that the royal had supp-lied an assistant with an envelope containing cocaine.

They said they had video footage of the royal aide snorting the drug. After the royal tipped off police, a 30-year-old man and a 40-year-old man were arrested in September in a sting operation.

The two men were seized as they played what they claimed was the sex video in a suite at a plush central London hotel, according to the report.

“A 30-year-old man and 40-year-old man appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Sept 13, each charged with one count of blackmail,” the Metropolitan Police said in a brief statement.

“Both have been remanded in custody to reappear at the Old Bailey on Dec 20.” According to the Sunday Times, it is the first blackmail case involving a member of the royal family in more than a century.

In 1891, the future Edward VII discussed with his solicitor paying off two prostitutes he frequented in return for letters he had written to them.

—AFP