Six-month drugs haul more than 2010 total

Border officials seized more cocaine in six months this year than in the whole of the previous year, figures showed today.

More than 2.1 tonnes of the drug was stopped at the UK border between April and September, compared with just two tonnes in 2010-11, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) figures showed.

The success was boosted by a single seizure of 1.2 tonnes of 90 per cent pure cocaine, the largest-ever haul of the drug and worth up to £300 million, on board a luxury yacht in Southampton in June.

The figures also showed that the amount of heroin seized by border officials in the last six months was 773kg, almost double the 473kg seized in 2010-11, when figures were low as a result of the “poppy drought” in Afghanistan and the impact of international law enforcement, the UKBA said.

Officials also noticed a change in the way heroin is being brought into the UK.

Almost three-quarters of the heroin seized up until early last year was brought into the UK through Europe under the control of criminal gangs in Turkey, officials said.

As this route was used less, drug dealers in the UK struggled to import the drug and the purity of the final product on the street fell, down from 46 per cent in December 2009 to 24 per cent in December 2010 – some of the lowest purity levels seen since 1984.

Between late 2010 and early 2011, the UK wholesale price for a kilogram of heroin rose from between £18,000 and £23,000 to between £19,000 and £25,000, with some high-quality heroin being sold for more than £40,000, the UKBA said.

But the amount of heroin being trafficked to the UK from Pakistan by parcel, air freight and container has increased, officials said.