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16 Jan 2025

How UK Border Force are detecting synthetic opioid drugs

News Correspondent

The decriminalisation and relaxation of cannabis laws in countries like Canada and Thailand is increasing the volume of drugs in England and Wales and may be making the UK far more attractive for criminal syndicates looking for markets with smaller domestic drug supplies.

Home Office Minister Seema Malhotra told Channel 4 News: “We’ve seen an increase in cannabis from Thailand after the decriminalisation, also from some US states and Canada, and that’s why we have to be intelligence-led and work internationally”.

Last year UK Border Force made a record number of illegal drug seizures. In the year ending March 2024, over 119 tonnes of illegal drugs, with a street value of £3 billion, were seized by the authorities.

The drug seizures in 2024 marked a 52% increase from 2023 and hit the highest volume since records began. Last year Border Force made over 40,639 drug seizures, which was a 57% increase of the amount of drugs seized in 2023, with herbal cannabis seizures up 58%.

The increase in seizures range from petite criminals importing modest amounts of cannabis to major syndicates importing large volumes hidden in fruit, apple cartons and other disguises smuggled in freight containers.

At London Stansted Airport, the number of passengers apprehended for cannabis smuggling increased from 137 to 700 between 2023 and 2024.
The easier availability of cannabis abroad has culminated in greater discoveries in the UK.

Border Force say they have increased their detection methods, but the sheer size of their hauls suggests an increase in smuggling as smuggler tactics shift.

Border Force said: “Historically you would say all cocaine comes from South America direct to the UK, heroin from Afghanistan, but it’s not like that anymore. As we’ve adapted our methods and our enforcement strategies, the organised crime groups, they adjust and they try and disguise their routings so we are finding that drugs are coming into the country from all over the globe.”

The government is also concerned with the growth of newer names on the drug market too.

Since June 2023, at least 400 deaths have been linked to new synthetic opioid drugs that were either not previously linked to severe public health concerns or had been created with compositions that allowed them to evade legal restrictions.

This week the Home Office added 22 new synthetic opioids like xylazine to the register of illicit drugs with six of them classified as Class A.

The government is now training a generation of sniffer dogs to detect new synthetic drugs at airports.