Cocaine seizures hit high
POLICE CAPTURE BIGGEST QUANTITY OF THE DRUG IN YEARS
THE amount of cocaine seized in London last year was nearly double that confiscated in the previous 12 months, new government figures reveal.
Police found a total of 633.2kg of the Class A drug between April 2016 and March 2017 – a 91% rise from the 330.9kg seized in 2015/16.
It is also the biggest quantity seized in a year since at least 2009/10, and means on average a gram of the drug was taken every 50 seconds in the capital.
The figures are compiled by the Home Office for England and Wales and include seizures made by Border Control and British Transport Police.
They also reveal a big jump in the amount of ketamine seized in London, with 6.6kg found in 2016/17, up 1,609% from 0.4kg in 2015/16.
This is the equivalent of police finding a gram of the drug every one hour and 19 minutes on average.
The amount of amphetamines seized in the capital quadrupled in the year, up from 3,462 doses in 2015/16 to 13,390 in 2016/17.
That means a dose was found on average every 39 minutes.
Across England and Wales, police found 5,516kg of cocaine in 2016/17, the equivalent of finding a gram every six seconds. That equates to a 31% rise from 4,228kg seized in 2015/16.
This was the biggest quantity seized in a year since 2003, with the amounts found rising steadily since 2009/10 over the period.
Border Force seized most of the quantity of cocaine with 4,503kg in total. However, seizures by police forces were the bigger driver in the increasing quantities of the drug found last year.
In 2016/17 the quantity of cocaine seized by Border Force increased by 28% from 2015/16 (from 3,530kg to 4,503kg), while the quantity of cocaine seized by police forces increased by 43% (from 710kg to 1,013kg).
Three-fifths, 61%, of seizures of cocaine were each under one gram in weight, with 3% weighing 500 grams or more.
However, there were reductions in the seizure of some drugs.
Thirty-nine kilograms of crack was seized in 2016/17 – three kilograms less than in 2015/16.
And there was a three per cent drop in heroin seized – down from 806kg in 2015/16 to 783 last year.
There was a 38% drop in the seizure of ecstasy, from 801,294 doses to 498,331 doses.
Over the last year, the quantity of herbal cannabis seized by police forces increased by 4% from 3,361kg in 2015/16 to 3,492kg in 2016/17.
Over the same time period, the quantity of cannabis resin seized decreased from 7,035 kilograms in 2015/16 to 5,838 kilograms in 2016/17 (down by 17%) and in 2016/17, there were 318,988 cannabis plants seized – a decrease of 19% since 2015/16 when 393,702 plants were seized.
This is part of the downwards long term trend since 2009/10.