HOW DOES THE COCAINE GET HERE FROM COLUMBIA?

For the drug barons who control the illicit trade in cocaine
trafficking, there are billions of pounds in profit at stake.But how
is the drug smuggled from makeshift factories dotted around Columbia
to the streets of North Devon?

According to customs officers, traffickers tend to favour a variety of
well-trodden supply routes from the South American country where the
bulk of cocaine is produced.

They say some consignments are flown direct to the UK while others are
sent by sea to popular staging posts including Spain, the Caribbean or
Africa, notably Ghana, Nigeria and The Gambia.

"These main routes will see the drug smuggled into the UK, using major
commercial air or sea routes," said customs South West spokesman Bob
Gaiger.

"Air routes tend to be into Heathrow or Gatwick airports, although we
have had some cases of couriers flying cocaine into other airports.
"We had a seizure last weekend at Bristol Airport - about three kilos
of cocaine in baggage.

"Sea routes tend to use commercial ships - often banana boats from the
Caribbean - into major ports like Southampton and Sheerness."

"There are no direct 'high risk' flights or shipping directly into the
South West.

"Cocaine used in North Devon will have been smuggled into the UK from
outside the region using the major airport or port hubs."

The latest figures show customs officers in the UK struck a series of
blows against cocaine smugglers in 2006-7, with investigators making
1,165 seizures of the drug being trafficked into the country, weighing
a total of 2,365 kilos.

Assuming a value of ?80,000 for each kilo, the total consignment had a
street value of some ?189 million.

According to a survey conducted last year by Druglink magazine, the
average purity of cocaine seized by police at street level was 34% -
down from 54% 10 years ago.

Seizures by customs have remained fairly constant over the past four
years, at around 67% purity.

This indicates the drug is significantly 'cut' by dealers within the
UK in order to increase their profit margins.

The Forensic Science Service says the most common adulterants in
samples of confiscated cocaine included the pain relievers benzocaine
and phenacetin, the local anaesthetic lignocaine and caffeine.