CHILDREN FIND 1,000 ECSTASY TABLETS

Police have condemned "reckless" drug dealers after children playing on
waste ground discovered 1,000 Ecstasy tablets.

Four young boys discovered the tablets - with a street value of UKP10,000 -
in Greenock, near Glasgow.

The children did not touch the drugs, but led a local woman to the find, and
she alerted police.

Detective Sergeant Jim Mimnagh of Strathclyde Police said the dealers had
acted in a "totally irresponsible and reckless manner" in hiding drugs there.

The boys, aged from eight to 10, were digging and playing on waste ground
when they found the securely wrapped haul.

'Quick thinking'

The tablets bore a 'Mitsubishi' logo and were known as 'shoguns' to drug
users, who paid about UKP10 a time for them in nightclubs and on the
streets, said police.

Police said the identities of the boys were not known but they praised their
"quick-thinking actions".

Sgt Mimnagh said: "I dread to think what the consequences might have been if
the boys had taken the tablets or given them to any of their friends to take."

The boys' find came amid mounting concern over the rising toll of drug
deaths, particularly in Strathclyde.

Super-pure heroin

So far this year 60 deaths in the region are suspected to be drug-related,
compared with 51 for the whole of last year.

Drugs with a street value of nearly UKP8m have been seized in Strathclyde.

Police have repeated warnings about the effects of super-pure heroin
circulating in the region.

Heroin was implicated in up to 36 of the first 50 deaths recorded this year.
It is also suspected that it has been a key factor in the 10 further
suspected drugs deaths recorded in the last three weeks.

Launching an anti-drugs scheme in Glasgow on Friday, Scottish Secretary
Donald Dewar cited the death of Julia Dawes, 18, in Perth as a terrible warning.

Miss Dawes is believed to have died after taking Ecstasy on a night out with
friends in Perth.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett