DRUGS BATTLE EVER HARDER AS MENACE TAKES ON NEW GUISE

According to some in police circles, the maxim "if it ain't broke,
don't fix it" could easily be applied to the Scottish Drug Enforcement
Agency (SDEA). They argue that, since its inception in June 2000, the
organisation has successfully carved out an international reputation
for effective, intelligence-led policing.

Admirers of the organisation also argue that you do not need police
jargon or political spin to embellish the SDEA's achievements - you
just need to look at the statistics. In the past year, the agency has
seen a four-fold increase in the weight of class-A drug seizures, and
a 22 per cent increase in arrests.

This may all sound like a cut-and-dried success story in the battle
against organised crime, but the reality is very different.

The truth is that drug seizures north of the Border have increased
largely because there are simply more illegal substances on the
streets. At the same time, the street price of class-A substances in
Glasgow and Edinburgh has significantly fallen.

More troubling is the fact that police intelligence increasingly shows
that drug dealers are now involved in a wide range of activities
including fraud and hi-tech crime. In response to this growing
problem, Scotland is soon to have its own FBI-style police agency in
line with radical crime-fighting plans in England and Wales which will
see the introduction of the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

The most significant result of this initiative north of the Border is
that over the next 12 months the SDEA will effectively become no more,
merged with Customs and Excise and the National Crime Squad, and
re-branded as the Scottish Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SSOCA).
It will be re-modelled to expand its remit from tackling drugs to
tracking international organised crime gangs.

The man in charge of this transition will be Graeme Pearson, the new
head of the current SDEA. He would modestly disagree, but his mantle
will likely make him the most influential police officer in Scotland.

During an interview with The Scotsman Mr Pearson, a former assistant
chief constable with Strathclyde Police, said he was still
"acclimatising" to the political aspects of his new role.

High up on his agenda is the Proceeds of Crime Act, which, since its
inception last year, has seen the seizure of millions of pounds worth
of assets from criminals across Scotland, the profits from which have
been earmarked by the Executive for rehabilitation programmes.

According to Mr Pearson, as well as assisting drug rehabilitation and
community projects, the assets the police seize should also be
ploughed back into crime-fighting.

He said: "We now have a new approach built on the Proceeds of Crime
Act which means we can chase the profit which can lead to the power of
crime.

"As the SDEA, our running costs are UKP 21 million a year, and as
SSOCA they will be much higher than that. Fundamentally, we want to be
able to pay for ourselves by seizing the assets from serious and
organised crime.

"We also want to give the money back to community projects across
Scotland which have been affected by crime in some way, but we also
want further investment in our own agency to help fight crime.

"In England and Wales, 30 per cent of profits from assets seized is
used to bolster police funds and I believe this should also be the
case in Scotland."

He went on: "For example, technology can give criminals a huge
advantage, and as things stand we are forced to hire external private
sector help in key investigations.

"On-the-ground policing is essential, but we have to use forensic
accountants to plough through company accounts and establish
money-laundering scams association with organised crime.

"We also hire in computer experts from the private sector. It would be
nice to be able to have these highly-skilled experts in-house. The
reality is, from a personnel perspective, we are stretched to full
capacity, and in order to take our fight against organised crime up a
gear you would always want more staff. Re-allocating some of the
profits from seizures to helping policing would be of huge
significance to us."

The Scottish Serious Organised Crime Agency hopes to target criminals
like the Scottish drugs baron Roddy McLean, who was found dead in a
flat in London in January after he escaped from an open prison six
years into a 21-year sentence.

McLean, 59, a gang leader from Edinburgh, had originally been
sentenced to 28 years in 1997 for his part in a bid to smuggle UKP 10
million of cannabis from Spain to Scotland by sea. Despite having a
UKP 4.5 million fortune, the courts only managed to seize UKP 100,000
from him.

According to Mr Pearson, tackling intelligent and highly-organised
criminals in the 21st century is no longer all about cops chasing
robbers. "We can no longer take a simplistic view of these things," he
said.

"We are focusing many of our investigations on highly educated
professionals, such as accountants, lawyers and estate agents, who
criminals can use, either wittingly or unwittingly, to launder their
money.

"Some are corrupted, either through fear or because they want wealth,
and we need all the technology at our disposal to keep up with these
organised gangs.

"The very fact that we can seize assets under the proceeds of crime is
a valuable tool for us, and will play a big part in the future. But
the reality is those who gain profit from drugs are also involved in
counterfeiting, smuggling, pornography and human trafficking.

"If we stop drugs tomorrow, will organised crime stop? The answer is
no. We have paid a lot of attention over the years to seizing kilos of
white powder, but that is not enough."

Another concern is the falling price of drugs. A recent "shopping
list" compiled by London-based charity DrugScope, revealed Birmingham,
Liverpool and Glasgow as the cheap drugs centres of the UK.

These days a gram of heroin can fetch as little as UKP 30, with the
same quantity of cocaine costing between UKP 40 and UKP 45.

"This is obviously something we will be keeping a close eye on, not
just regarding drug smuggling but also issues like cigarette
smuggling, identity theft and hi-tech fraud," Mr Pearson said.

"The most important thing is we are now all working together. Over the
decades there has been a well-rehearsed rivalry between agencies like
the police and customs. Bringing them all together is the answer to
effectively dealing with the threat from organised crime."