COLOMBIAN drug barons are increasingly targeting Scotland because they believe American law enforcers are getting too tough, police warned yesterday, as new figures revealed a huge jump in the value of drugs seized here.
Bob Lauder, who heads the Scottish enforcement arm of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, told a major conference on drugs there was growing evidence that more cocaine was being supplied to the lucrative UK and European markets.
He said that ther
e was a growing perception among drug barons that the United States had become "too hostile" an environment in which to operate.
He continued: "Cocaine use in the US has reached a plateau and there is evidence that more of it was arriving in Europe, which has the highest prices."
The European market is increasingly attractive for trafficking groups based in Latin America. He said that cocaine was typically arriving in high-purity kilo blocks worth around £32,000 each.
But drug traffickers are multiplying their profits several times by using agents to dilute the drug, which has a lower purity level in Scotland than in the rest of the UK.
Gordon Meldrum, the head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), told the annual police drugs conference at Turnberry, that there had been a major increase in the recovery of Class A drugs in the past few months.
Between April 2007 and 31 January this year, police have seized drugs worth £15.5 million – compared with drugs valued at more than £7.5 million for the whole of 2006-7. About £10 million worth of heroin was recovered in a single operation at Glasgow's Fruit Market, but Mr Meldrum revealed that the seizure had made "no impact" on the availability of heroin in the local area, pointing to the ready availability of drugs in Scotland.
Mr Meldrum also revealed that over the past ten months the SCDEA had made 126 arrests, 42 of which were "higher level" criminals.
He said that in North America, the drug enforcement agency and other organisations have had very significant successes against cocaine supplies, which have historically come from South America.
"That has displaced it eastwards into the west coast of Africa. We are finding that more and more cocaine is heading that way into Europe," he said.
A major exercise is now under way to determine the value of the illegal drugs market in Scotland.
The man leading the investigation is Gordon Hay, senior research fellow at the Centre for Drugs Misuse Research in Glasgow.
He said: "We are talking about millions of pounds, if not billions."
LIFETIME OF ASSETS TARGETEDDRUG barons face being stripped of money accumulated over their entire criminal careers, Fergus Ewing, the community safety minister, said yesterday.
A serious-crime taskforce set up by the Scottish Government has looked at strengthening the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act under which £17 million has already been recovered.
Currently under the act, only money made in the previous six years can be seized. "We are exploring the possibility of extending the investigation periods in both criminal confiscation and civil recovery investigations to ensure a lifetime of crime is open to a lifetime of asset recovery," said Mr Ewing.
"We want to capture those lower-level offenders affiliated to bigger criminal networks."
Mr Ewing said the act was "one of the most powerful tools in the fight against crime." He added: "This is the only way of reducing demand for drugs."
SPOTLIGHT ON UNDERWORLDTHE biggest-ever investigation into the scale of organised crime in Scotland has been launched by senior police officers.
The Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency is leading a 12-month inquiry to establish the number and extent of serious crime networks in the country.
The operation will also involve Scottish government officials, financial experts and academics.
Gordon Meldrum, head of the SCDEA, revealed that he also wanted to identify lawyers, accountants and other professionals who he said were acting as "organised crime consultants".
Mr Meldrum claimed the investigation would uncover the full range and extent of criminal activity among organised gangs in Scotland. "I want this to be delivered within 12 months but I don't want this to become a one-off project that provides us with a picture that very quickly becomes out of date."
