HEROIN GALORE

Ferry Route Will Be A Drug Smuggler's Dream

The head of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency fears the first direct
ferry link between Scotland and the Continent will open a new drugs route
into the country.

Jim Orr, director of the SDEA, revealed that discussions are to be held
with police and customs to combat the smuggling threat posed by the A?12m
Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry service, due to open in May next year.

The service, which will be run by Greek firm Superfast Ferries, has been
hailed as one of the most significant developments for Scottish business
and the tourist industry for years.

But Orr has raised the spectre of Scotland being flooded with heroin and
cocaine from the continent if the ferry link is not policed appropriately.

Currently there are thought to be 30 tonnes of heroin and between 25 and 40
tonnes of cocaine smuggled into Britain every year, most of it coming into
the UK from Holland and Spain.

In an interview for Grampian television, Orr said that Scotland's vast and
inaccessible coastline was already being used by drug smugglers and that
the Rosyth ferry could be yet another way in.

He added: "In the main, drugs are coming in by road, but they also use the
air and rail infrastructures. Drug smugglers will look at every opportunity
in terms of routes.

"There will always be a risk because they are very inventive. That is why
we need very good vigilance and why it is crucial that we have a good
relationship with customs.

"The Rosyth ferry is a concern. We will be in discussions with law
enforcement colleagues to look at the threat.

"Logically it could be a conduit for drug trafficking and it is somewhere
that we need to be sure that we have good intelligence."

The plan to build a roll-on, roll-off ferry terminal at the former navy
base at Rosyth only secured its A?12m grant last month from transport
secretary Stephen Byers.

Forth Ports, which operates Rosyth, is now working to meet the start-up
date next year. There are plans for a terminal building, modernisation of
an existing berth and hundreds of parking spaces.

Superfast will fit out two A?65m passenger ferries, which will see a daily
service in each direction with a sailing time of 16 to 18 hours. It
expected that the ferries will take as many as 30,000 heavy lorries a year
off Scotland's roads.

Customs spokesman David Clark said he was satisfied that officers would be
able to minimise the risk of Rosyth being used to smuggle drugs. "We
recognise that with the Rosyth ferry terminal being the main direct link
from continental Europe to Scotland for both freight and passengers, there
clearly will be an increased risk for smuggling both drugs and contraband,"
he said.

"We will make sure that we resource the ferry port adequately and in
proportion to the risk, to ensure that it doesna TMt become a place drug
smugglers think they can use.

"We have a mobile scanner which will be there that will x-ray all vehicles
to examine what is inside them.

"These machines are already in place at Dover and Felixstowe and have
proved very successful - even picking up illegal immigrants."

David Mellor, assistant chief constable for Fife Police said: "We are
working closely with the Scottish Executive to have funding in place to
ensure that the ferry port is properly policed, and we are confident that
these discussions will have a positive outcome.

"The arrival of the ferry is a greatly welcomed commercial and recreational
opportunity for the east coast of Scotland, but inevitably it will also
bring with it openings for potential criminality.

"To counter this we will work closely with the SDEA, customs and other
organisations to ensure that we are ready to tackle this type of activity."

In his television interview, Orr also said that despite government plans to
reclassify cannabis he still regarded it as a "dangerous drug" which opened
"gateways" to harder substances. "Let's be quite blunt about this, all
drugs are dangerous. What is being suggested is a reclassification from
Class B to C so it will still be a criminal offence to be in possession or
trafficking in cannabis.

"Cannabis is not and never will be a drug that is harm free. If there is a
reclassification then there must be a message to explain why and how it has
been reclassified.

"There is always a danger that it is a gateway drug. Dealers deal in
multi-commodities: heroin, cocaine and cannabis.

"If you speak to addicts they will tell you they regard cannabis as a
gateway to an environment where you are offered harder drugs.

"There must still be a strong education message that all drugs are dangerous."