Pubdate: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 Source: Herald, The (UK) Copyright: 2003 The Herald Contact: http://www.theherald.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/189 Author: Alan MacDermid DRUG SQUADS 'HIKING UP VALUE OF HAULS' POLICE drug squads are exaggerating the value of drugs they seize in order to compete for a bigger share of government funding, legal sources claimed yesterday. The so-called "street value" attached to some hauls are often several times the real price at which they are being traded, they allege. Recent individual hauls have been attributed values of UKP 25m for cocaine, UKP 800,000 for cannabis, and UKP 3m for ecstasy. Senior lawyers, and a former drugs squad officer, have told The Herald that the values of consignments are often based on unrealistic or out-of-date assumptions about the retail price. They are exaggerated either as PR hype or to enhance funding from the Scottish Executive for the war against drugs. A former drugs squad officer admits talking up the values of seizures, and says pressure has since grown because of the performance-related nature of funding awarded to police forces and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency. The Scottish Executive denies funding is performance-related, and says its targets for the agency are based on quantities of drugs seized which have increased dramatically rather than value. However, recent court cases give some indication as to how the valuations accorded to these quantities compare with reality. One of the biggest ecstasy trials in Scotland in recent times against two Scots, two Dutchmen and a Belgian finished recently in the High Court with acquittals all round, apart from one accused, Gregg Thomson, who had pleaded guilty at the outset. He was imprisoned for a year, backdated. At the heart of the case was a haul of 600,000 tablets on which the Crown had put a street value of UKP 3m, or UKP 5 a tablet, when these are selling in pubs and clubs for 50p to UKP 2. Gordon Thomson, who retired five years ago as a detective inspector with Grampian Police Drugs Squad, and now works through the National Expert Witness Service, said: "There are not as many multi-millionaire drug dealers as you would believe from hearing these new figures. Drug prices have dropped rapidly over the past two years. "From UKP 20 each for ecstasy in 1999, you can now get a pack of 100 for UKP 100 to UKP 200. Until two or three years ago manufacture was mostly European-based. Now a lot of the pre-cursor chemicals are being made in the Far East. They are coming from China. It is cheaper. "There has always been pressure on the drug squad chiefs to come up with weird and wonderful calculations as to the value of drugs. I may have talked up the value of seizures in the past but not to the extent that goes on now. It is performance-related. The chief constables want it to be as high as possible." According to a senior legal source, inflated valuations can lead to injustices, with the courts handing down stiffer sentences. He said: "I think there is a performance-related element. If they can say this is the biggest drugs haul since whenever, the government is bound to look more kindly on them. It is not uncommon for the police to say ecstasy is UKP 10 a tablet, but my understanding is that it is UKP 1 or even 50p. "If they find a kilo of cocaine, the person they have collared may have bought it for UKP 3000 and expects to be making UKP 6000 profit. But the police will say this was to be sold in half-gram deals at UKP 25, which brings it up to UKP 50,000. It makes a huge difference to sentencing. It can double your sentence. The Crown can also use it as a plea-bargaining counter." James Orr, director of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency, said on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland: "When a potential street value of illicit drugs is required for a trial, this evidence is usually given by an expert police witness, from the relevant police force, who has a proven and detailed knowledge of the illicit drugs trade." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth