SMUGGLING OF DRUGS INTO UK DECLINES

LONDON: Joint action by Jamaica to Britain has cut the number of people
smuggling cocaine inside their bodies by more than 90 per cent in the past
two years, British Customs officers said yesterday.

Concerned by the growing number of people swallowing packets of cocaine to
smuggle them into Britain, police and Customs officials in both countries
launched Operation Airbridge on June 1, 2002.

In the year before the launch of Operation Airbridge, the number of cocaine
swallowers detected in Britain had risen to 730, Customs officials said.
This number fell to 185 in the operation's first 12 months up to June 2003,
and in the last year up to June 2004, the number has been reduced further
to 41 - a reduction of more than 90pc since the operation began.

In the year to June 2003, there was also a significant increase in the
number of cocaine smugglers detected in Jamaica prior to boarding flights
for the UK, up from 82 to 216.