Crackdown on fentanyl as US-style opioid crisis looms

THE Home Office is to launch a crackdown on drug gangs smuggling fentanyl into the UK in an attempt to avert a US-style opioid crisis.

Officials are planning to train a team of Border Force sniffer dogs to detect smuggled consignments of the drug arriving in Britain.

Fentanyl is a form of synthetic opioid which is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.

According to the Home Office, the UK is “seeing an increase in the prevalence of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl”. Officials note that “synthetic opioids may have contributed to a number of deaths over the past few months” in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Last week, the Home Office published a “request for quote” document advertising a new contract for a company to provide “fentanyl products” for use in the training of Border Force dogs.

Officials say the rise in the prevalence of synthetic opioids “may be the result of a successful Taliban clamp-down on heroin production in Afghanistan”.

One of Britain’s most senior policing figures warned last year that London and other cities are at risk of a surge in super-strength synthetic opioids.

Donna Jones, who chairs the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said the epidemic of drug overdoses in the California city offered a stark warning of what the UK might face.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are cracking down on smugglers attempting to bring fentanyl and other illicit substances over the border, and Border Force Detector Dogs play a pivotal role in this. They are effective in preventing harmful substances and material from coming into the country, where they cause significant harm.”