RECORD RISE IN HARD DRUGS SMUGGLED INTO UK

Record quantities of hard drugs are being smuggled into Britain as dealers
attempt to cater for the party season when at least four million people are
expected to take an illegal substance.

Although Christmas and New Year traditionally generate a rise in smuggling,
the scale of the increase during the past three months has alarmed Customs
officials.

'The traffickers appear to be getting bolder and operating on a grander
scale,' said a source. 'What we are seeing is an increase both in the
number of attempts and the size of shipments we are seizing.'

Unofficial estimates suggest the amount of cocaine being brought into the
country has increased by as much as 25 per cent in the last quarter of the
year.

Many Customs officers believe this could be linked to the terrorist attacks
of 11 September with dealers attempting to take advantage of the fact that
officials are being diverted to look for terrorists rather than drug
couriers. They say dealers are targeting Britain - now the fastest growing
cocaine market in Europe - because prices here are twice those in the US.
There have also been significant seizures of ecstasy and amphetamines.

Earlier this month 25 drug mules who had swallowed packages of cocaine were
arrested after stepping off a flight from Jamaica at Heathrow. It was the
largest number of couriers ever intercepted on a single flight.

A week later a further 16 were arrested at Gatwick, again following a
flight from Jamaica. Further parcels con taining cocaine were found on the
aircraft. In all, drugs worth £250,000 were seized.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police's Operation Trident, which targets
black-on-black crime, had received word that dealers were attempting to
corner the cocaine market in time for Christmas.

A Customs spokesman said: 'We have not seen anything like this. Jamaica has
been one of the key sources for smugglers bringing drugs into Britain, but
the numbers we are seeing on flights represent a serious development.'

Alarm bells first began to sound in October when there were three major
seizures: £100m of cocaine was captured after being thrown from a plane at
Southend Airport in Essex, £12m worth of the drug was found on a lorry in
Hertfordshire and £5m worth of heroin was recovered during a house raid in
Greenwich, south east London.

Several police forces have launched drugs crackdowns in recent weeks. Last
week more than 200 officers from Surrey police, including specialist
firearms units and dog handlers, carried out a series of co-ordinated raids
on suspected major drug dealers across two counties as part of Operation
Unify. Some 18 people were arrested and detectives also recovered firearms
and a large quantity of class A drugs.

During the same week, police in Thames Valley raided a house in a village
in Berkshire and recovered £5m worth of amphetamines and £250,000 worth of
cannabis. Raids on crack houses in Hackney have resulted in 53 arrests
including former British welterweight champion Kirkland Lang.

The Government has launched a £1.5m advertising campaign aimed at
preventing children from taking drugs. Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth
said: 'We have launched this initiative in an attempt to reach the 220,000
16-19 year olds who have told us they use Class A drugs at least once a year.'

Ministers are particularly concerned about a new variant of ecstasy
nicknamed Death after being linked to several deaths in Australia.

The concern over hard drugs comes amid a relaxation of police attitudes
towards soft drugs. Last week Scotland Yard announced that a pilot scheme
in Lambeth, south London, which saw those caught with cannabis warned
rather than prosecuted is to be extended.

Two reports suggest the scheme, intended to allow police to focus on harder
drugs, has been a success. A similar scheme could be in place across the
whole of London by the end of next year, smoothing the path for the Home
Secretary, David Blunkett, to press ahead with plans to reclassify cannabis
from Class B to Cla