Police seize record haul of Class A drugs last year in the Lothians

POLICE have seized a record amount of Class A drugs during the last year, with more than £5 million of heroin and cocaine recovered in the Lothians.

The haul included more than 25kg of heroin, with seizures of the drug soaring by nearly 50 per cent between last April and March against the previous year.

Police chiefs welcomed the record levels of confiscations, but insisted the force's priority was dismantling organised crime gangs behind the illegal trade.

Detective Chief Superintendent Malcolm Graham, head of the force's CID division, said the targeting of the biggest drug gangs showed that "no one is untouchable".

The total seizures soared by 32 per cent against the previous year, when just over 3.4m of Class A substances were recovered by officers. However, one operation alone, a raid on a flat in Sighthill in December, recovered heroin worth 2m - the single largest recovery of the drug ever made in the Lothians.

Det Chief Supt Graham said: "The recovery of substantial quantities of drugs does have an impact on organised crime groups, but that is only part of our strategy. Our aim is to dismantle these groups by seizing drugs and cash, confiscating assets and securing convictions.

"We have seen a greater balance between heroin and cocaine supply. There is a market out there for each drug, often because people are using them both."

A total of 18kg of cocaine was seized between April and March, a drop of 33 per cent against the previous year.

The 2009/10 total had soared following the seizure of 700,000 of cocaine when Inch drug gang leader Mark Richardson was caught red-handed with the drugs during a raid.

Det Chief Supt Graham cited the jailing of notorious gangster George "Dode" Buchanan, 54, last month for heroin dealing as one of the force's recent successes.

He added: "We have targeted a number of high-profile criminals, who may have had reputations within organised crime circles, and many are now serving sentences or awaiting trial. Those who are involved in this kind of criminal activity are being shown that no one is untouchable in Lothian and Borders."

The force's Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) broke up ten organised crime gangs in Edinburgh and the Lothians during the year, while recovering 3m of Class A drugs and identifying 6.5m of criminal assets to be seized. Eight gang leaders are now serving jail sentences as a result.

Gavin Brown, Lothians Tory MSP, said: "Lothian and Borders Police should be commended for their efforts in removing such a large quantity of drugs from the streets.

"But it's no time to relax these efforts as 5m of drug seizures means there must be millions and millions of pounds of drugs still out there."I would call on them to take a zero tolerance approach to drug crime."

Among other notable successes, a police swoop on Haymarket station last month netted heroin worth 140,000. And officers recovered 100,000 of cocaine when police pulled over a car on the city bypass last June.