Drug smuggling

Gangs take bigger risks to smuggle drugs into lockdown Britain

Organised crime groups are taking increasingly audacious risks as they attempt to smuggle large quantities of drugs into lockdown Britain, senior police figures say.

Analysing the latest operations of transnational criminal networks, the National Crime Agency’s head of drug threat said that police were making more significant seizures during the pandemic than normal.

Lawrence Gibbons said that with restrictions on movement, the absence of flights and with only essential travel advised on many routes such as Eurotunnel, international drug dealers were being forced to make high-stakes decisions.

“Lockdown restrictions mean they are having difficulty moving drugs,” he said. “Because there is less opportunity they are taking more risks by moving drugs in bulk.

“If you’re a drug dealer [in Belgium or the Netherlands] and you’re trying to get your 100kg of cocaine into Britain, you would often split that into four lots of 25kg. If one gets stopped, three get through. But because of the lack of opportunity they’re either sending two lots of 50 or 100 in one go, which they wouldn’t normally do. We’ve had some massive seizures.”