CUSTOMS DRUGS CASES SETBACK

More than 20 convictions, most for drug trafficking, could be overturned
because of suspected malpractice and possible criminal offences by Customs
investigators.

Evidence has been unearthed by secretive police inquiries, the Telegraph
has learned.

Convictions secured in operations with Customs could be at risk

The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which decides whether suspected
miscarriages of justice should be sent to appeal, has already sent two
drugs cases to the Court of Appeal.

It is considering whether to refer 15 others, which are believed to relate
to heroin imported from Pakistan.

They involve the "controlled delivery" of drugs, in which Customs
investigators allow hard drugs to "run" into the country to catch those
behind the trade. Four further Customs-led convictions - for alleged
evasion of duty on alcohol centering on a bonded warehouse company called
London City Bond - have also been sent to appeal and one has been quashed.

This is the latest setback for the Customs agency. It has already been
criticised for an allegedly cavalier attitude to the rules of evidence and
disclosure of material in some cases in the 1990s.

Many observers believe there may be further suspected miscarriages from old
Customs cases.

Seventeen of the cases have been re-examined as a result of intelligence
from a lengthy West Midlands police inquiry.

The Metropolitan Police, which has been investigating the warehouse case,
is also examining Customs investigations into money exchange bureaux.

The Government is anxiously trying to protect recent Customs work under a
new broom approach headed by Paul Evans, a former MI6 officer, as well as
the many investigators who have complied with the rules.

Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, has removed the Customs agency's
long-held control over its own prosecutions and is establishing an
independent Customs and Inland Revenue prosecuting office similar to the
Crown Prosecution Service.

Yesterday he appointed David Green, QC, a Crown Court recorder, to restore
trust.

Mr Green said: "My priority will be the establishment of a genuinely
independent prosecuting authority that is fair, impartial and accountable
and that produces high quality casework. I am determined to restore
confidence in the department so that we can punch our weight in the
criminal justice system."

He will soon become involved in what is said to be "a real headache"
arising from some of the controversial older cases: how much detail about
the police inquiries to disclose to defendants in recent trials who are
asking whether there was malpractice in their cases.

As a result of the West Midlands inquiry, three Customs investigators, one
serving and two retired, are to appear in court charged with misconduct in
public office.

Terry Byrne, the overall head of law enforcement at Customs, and its head
lawyer, David Pickup, have been suspended as a result of the Scotland Yard
inquiry. That has intensified the interest of current defendants in finding
out about the police inquiries.

There is concern in wider police circles, particularly at the National
Crime Squad, about the possibility that joint operations and convictions
secured with Customs in the past might unravel if Customs is found to have
failed to disclose material or has bent the rules.

However, it is understood that the National Crime Squad in particular has
insisted in recent years on handling any informants in joint inquiries by
its own rules and in consultation with the CPS.

Some detectives have commented wryly that Customs, which never missed an
opportunity to point out police corruption in the past, is now being
criticised for the kind of practices, particularly involving informants,
that the police were forced to root out many years ago.