DRUGS TSAR TO CONFISCATE TRAFFICKERS' PASSPORTS IN FOUR YEAR 'WAR' PLAN

Drugs tsar Keith Hellawell yesterday unveiled proposals to hit back at drug
traffickers by confiscating their passports and working more closely with
foreign governments to block supply routes.

Mr Hellawell and cabinet office minister Mo Mowlam spelled out where the
extra UKP996m made available by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, for the fight
against drugs would be used over the next four years.

But there was concern that too much emphasis was being placed on tackling
cartels in drug producing countries to the detriment of services in Britain.
Over the next two years more of the extra cash will be spent on "reducing
the availability" of drugs than on treating those with a drugs problem.

The Conservatives attacked the government for not producing the latest
figures on drug use. Andrew Lansley, the shadow Cabinet Office minister,
said: "The report shows no evidence of progress towards the government's
targets on drug abuse - they have not even produced a baseline figure.

"There have been confusing messages from those in charge of the drugs
strategy. There has been a lack of effective co-ordination and little real
progress."

Mr Hellawell dismissed the claim that British treatment programmes would
suffer because resources were being targeted abroad. He said: "In fact we
are going to have substantial increases right across the board."

Ms Mowlam insisted that there was a need for a "dual strategy" to cut supply
and demand through treatment and education.

Mr Hellawell said: "Drug trafficking recognises no international borders -
neither will we in our resolve that there will be no hiding place for the
dealers, nor the obscene amounts of cash they make from the suffering of
millions of people throughout the world."

British officers already work with foreign authorities to disrupt the trade
in drugs, especially heroin and cocaine. This work is set to intensify.

Mr Hellawell said that he was investigating the possibility of a scheme
under which convicted drugs traffickers would have their passports
confiscated. "If people are trafficking drugs and bringing them into the
country, surely they should have their passports taken away," he said.

He said it was one of a range of measures being introduced to make life more
difficult for those operating in the drugs trade.

Ministers are also considering the introduction of civil court powers to
confiscate suspected dealers' cash and possessions if they could not prove
they had obtained them by legal means. Confiscated funds would be ploughed
back into drugs projects.

The extra money, announced in the chancellor's comprehensive spending
review, is to be divided into four categories including drug treatment,
"protecting young people" - which includes educating young people about
drugs and programmes to help young offenders, and "safeguarding communities"
- - which includes reducing repeat offending rates.

Foreign ventures come into the final category - "reducing availability".
Customs or police bosses can bid for this money in order to send officers
abroad to participate in the investigations Mr Hellawell highlighted.

* http://www.official-documents.co.uk/
Government's 10-year anti-drugs strategy, 1998

* http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/pcrg/
Home Office Action Against Drugs unit