£40m Of Drugs On Scotland's Heroin Highway

Mar 2 2008 By Raymond Hainey

Special Report £40million Of Hard Drugs Smuggled Into Scotland On This Rural Stretch Of Road In Last Three Years

SMUGGLERS have driven up to £40million worth of hard drugs into Scotland through a single stretch of road in three years.

The 33-mile section of the A74(M) from Gretna to Moffat was revealed as Britain's biggest drugs route by police last week.

Scotland's smallest force Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary admitted at least £1million of drugs including heroin, cocaine and cannabis had been seized in the past three years on the road.

But a Sunday Mail investigation has found the true value of drugs seized by police on the cross-border route is at least £2million.

Experts say as little as one in 20 hauls are actually detected - half the number estimated by theHomeOffice and police.

That means almost £40million of drugs have poured into Scotland on the small stretch of rural road in three years.

Jim Doherty, a Glasgow-based support worker for addicts' families, said: "Amounts recovered will be less than 10 per cent, maybe even less than five.

"The police are doing great work, particularly in Dumfries and Galloway, but they aren't being backed up enough by the criminal justice system.

"There never appears to be shortages on the street - there are always a lot of drugs washing about Scotland."

The Sunday Mail found that convictions involving hard drugs on the A74 in Scotland involved £2million worth of drugs in the past three years.

Cumbria Police on the other side of the border also seize large amounts of drugs on their way north.

In 12 weeks between last July and September, they recovered £366,000 of drugs from vehicles heading to Scotland - equivalent to almost £1.5million-a-year.

Cumbria DCI Andy Slattery said: "The majority of seizures are headed towards Scotland.

"The amountwe are seizing is increasing and we're making a bigger dent in the profits of the drug dealers. But we really have no idea how much drugs there are using that road - there's no way of telling how many consignments go up and down the motorway.

"But our figures definitely suggest the overall amount is increasing."

Police busts are usually based on tipoffs but to protect informants they are often portrayed as random searches.

They use a host of hi-tech roadside cameras and automatic number plate recognition systems to track suspected cars.

In 2001, one of the biggest-ever hauls of heroin in Scotland was made in Ecclefechan - 11 miles north of Gretna on the A74(M).

Steven Mitchell, of Bothwell, Lanarkshire, was jailed for eight years for having 45 kilos, worth around £3million. Dumfries & Galloway acting DI ColinMcColmsaid most of the drugs found on the road came from England.

One exception was Nigerian-bornmule Edmond Okoli, 43, jailed for six years at the High Court in Edinburgh two weeks ago over a £500,000 cocaine haul.

He picked up the drugs - which had been swapped for fake packages after arriving at Edinburgh Airport - before being nabbed on the road south.

In 2004, Dumfriesshire-based drug barons David Currie, 38, and Paul Glasper, were jailed for a £2million cross-Border smuggling operation.

Gavin Robertson, Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency co-ordinator said: "Organised crime groups exploit all legitimate transport routes to bring drugs to the UK and Scotland.

"We work closely with police forces, HMRC and other key partners to target the methods used to import contraband which has such a negative effect on Scotland's communities."

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