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 05 September 2008 05:44 BST

90 tonnes of class A drugs seized last year by police

Thursday, 15 May 2008 15:18
Police seize 90 tonnes of class A drugs
Almost 90 tonnes of class A drugs were seized by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and its international partners last year.

Soca published its second annual report today highlighting the work being undertaken in tackling serious crime in Britain and abroad.

The report claimed that the seizure of class A drugs was up by 20 per cent on last year, with cocaine with a street value of £6 billion being seized.

Soca is in its second year and home office minister Vernon Coaker today praised the "significant impact" it has made on serious crime.

"Soca is having a significant impact on serious organised crime from seizing class A drugs, confiscating criminals' wealth and targeted interventions that make life harder for organised criminals to operate," Mr Coaker said.

"This report shows how Soca has set about its tasks in its second year of operating and I congratulate Soca for its hard work and commitment to tackling those criminals that threaten our society and the innocent people within it."

Bill Hughes, director general of the agency, added: "We are attacking the world's strongest criminals where they are weakest, whether that is in Bogota or Bolton. We're systematically disrupting every link in the crime chain - from finance and production to communications and distribution."

The report highlighted that over 30 tonnes of cannabis was seized at home and abroad as well as 60 tonnes of precursor chemicals from Colombia and Afghanistan.

New methods in tackling serious crime were introduced through last year including 46 warnings issued to over 2,500 private sector organisations through the UK.

Over £46 million criminal assets were also restrained by domestic courts last year and the Soca report highlights a number of examples were investigations led to the billions of pounds worth of drugs being seized.

Operation HOBART, for example, included the investigation of a north London criminal group involved in trafficking class A drugs into the UK. The investigation involved officers working with America, European and Colombian law enforcement agencies.

Illegal drugs of a street value of £3.7 million were eventually seized by police along with letters of credit valued at over £3 billion.

Ten people were sentenced as a result of the investigation.End of story


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