Super-pure drug caches cut out middlemen

DRUG dealers are making huge profits by trafficking smaller, purer amounts of cocaine and heroin into Scotland, The Scotsman can reveal.

Organised crime gangs are using contacts in Amsterdam and Spain to get higher-quality heroin and cocaine, without it being “cut” by a series of middlemen.

As a result, they are handling consignments which are 90 per cent pure which they cut in Scotland to less than 10 per cent purity for sale across the country.

The Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) says there are now several multi-millionaire drug dealers in Scotland. However, the amount of cutting that takes place here is potentially making the drugs more dangerous than ever.

Last year, ten Scottish heroin users died from anthrax poisoning after taking drugs cut in the UK – there were no similar deaths anywhere else in Europe.

The growth in cheap flights in recent years has made it easier to travel to meet contacts and smuggle drugs. Crime gangs are also less inclined to smuggle large quantities in case they are caught and suffer a huge loss.

Detective Sergeant David Wilson, the SCDEA’s Europol liaison officer, said: “What we have now, with cheap airline travel, is a situation where a lot of middlemen are being cut out.

“Previously Scottish criminals would go to Manchester, Liverpool or London. Now it’s an Easyjet flight to Amsterdam and they’re dealing direct.”

The majority of heroin comes from Afghanistan, goes through eastern European dealers, and passes into Scottish hands in Amsterdam.

“It’s seen as a place where they can meet quite easily with foreign criminals,” Mr Wilson said. “Everyone speaks English so the Scottish criminals can go there, have a pint of lager or a coffee, and everyone can understand them.”

Similarly, most cocaine comes from South America, occasionally passes through Africa, and is bought by Scottish dealers in various parts of Spain.

As well as cheap travel, fear of being busted has changed the way drug smugglers operate.

In 2002, a bust which uncovered half a tonne of cocaine in southern England put a crime gang into so much debt they were out of action for two years.

As a result, traffickers tend to smuggle smaller quantities, harder for police to detect.

Officers believe the best way of tackling this is through building better links with other agencies, so they know which passengers and haulage vehicles to search as they cross borders.

Mr Wilson said: “We try to build up relationships with other agencies, such as the UK Borders Agency, and share intelligence in a more collective way.

“Any action police take has to be justified, so we have to build up intelligence and be as well sighted as we can be.” John Arthur, director of support service Crew 2000, admitted the cutting of drugs was a worry.

“We’re always concerned because it’s an unregulated market,” he said. “So it’s always open to something damaging slipping into the system.”

Despite the economic climate, demands for drugs remains high. “There’s no cutting back,” Mr Arthur said.

“What most observers I’ve read, and our own experience, tell us, substance use goes up during a depression – because people are depressed.”