BIG INCREASE IN DRUG SHIPMENTS

Shipments of drugs arriving in Britain are getting larger and are
attracting higher street prices than ever before, according to the annual
report by the National Audit Office.

The average street value of a drugs seizure by customs officers has risen
by 75 per cent since the start of the decade, to more than UKP80,000 at
today's prices. The size of shipments has risen even more.

The average heroin seizure has increased by 140 per cent in weight since
1990 while consignments of cannabis have doubled in size. Shipments of
synthetic drugs such as ecstasy have increased by more than 600 per cent.

Despite the increases, British customs officers are regularly beating their
performance targets in breaking drugs rings and preventing imports.
However, the prices of drugs on the street have not been affected.

"Trends in street level prices of drugs over the last nine years do not
suggest that, nationally, supply has become more restricted relative to
demand," said Sir John Bourn, the head of the National Audit Office, in his
report.

>From 1997 to 1998, customs officers seized about UKP3.3 billion of drugs
entering Britain - nearly double their target of UKP1.7 million. They also
broke 130 drugs smuggling rings, well above their target of 108.

Despite their successes, one worrying trend is a decline of nearly a third
in the number of drugs "barons" successfully prosecuted through the courts.

David Davis, the Tory chairman of the House of Commons public accounts
select committee, said that customs officers may have shifted their
attention to focus on large and complex trafficking organisations, making
successful prosecutions harder to achieve.

"The committee will need to consider whether this reflects a weakness in
the prosecuting authority, and whether they might have misjudged the extent
to which resources should be devoted to complex and inherently more risky
cases," said Mr Davis.

One of the most costly and high profile drugs trials in Scottish legal
history ended last week in a not proven verdict on Thomas McGraw. He was
alleged by prosecutors to be a leading Glasgow criminal importing large
amounts of cannabis from Spain in a charity's minibus.

Three others, accused with him, were sentenced to ten, eight and six years
for drug trafficking. The police operation and the trial cost the taxpayer
more than UKP2 million.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski