Drug Trafficking: Deterrence (Hansard, 19 October 1989)

The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)
My Lords, the Government can never be completely satisfied as long as drug trafficking continues, but the extensive action which we have taken includes providing high penalties for drug trafficking; maintaining vigilant controls at ports and airports; giving assistance to law enforcement agencies in other countries; and issuing warnings to travellers from overseas of the severe penalties which they face if they are caught smuggling drugs into this country.

§ Baroness Ewart-Biggs
My Lords, I am grateful for that useful information, but is the Minister aware of the very high number of women from the drug producing countries who are in our prisons? In the case of Cookham Wood half the inmates are women from abroad serving sentences of up to 10 years. Is the Minister further aware that the drug barons who recruit them do not tell them that if caught they will receive a prison sentence, but merely that they will be deported? Does he not feel that more preventitive action should be taken? One scheme suggested by prison governors is that videos should be shown either on flights or at airport passport control desks spelling out the very high sentences which drug carriers risk and inviting women in particular to give themselves up. Can the Minister say whether or not those are the schemes that we should be introducing to try to prevent this high toll of usually simple women who find themselves in gaol?

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness that it is a distressing state of affairs when fairly simple women are encouraged to traffic in drugs. It is impossible for any government abroad to inform those who employ these people to let them know that there will be tough sentences. We shall gladly consider any ideas for restricting these people coming in. I inquired about the percentage of women in prison for drug offences. On 31st March this year there were 62 Nigerian women and 18 Ghanaian in the prison system as a whole for drug importation, of which 31 Nigerians and 12 Ghanaians were serving sentences of four years or more. That compares with a total sentenced female population of 1,289. Althought the numbers are bad, the percentages are not that high.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that I visited Holloway prison last year where one-third of the inmates were young women from Nigeria, many of whom were pregnant and being treated on the National Health Service while they had their babies? Is there any hope of getting the Nigerian Government to co-operate with our Government to try to stop girls leaving Nigeria with drugs?

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for letting me know of her experiences when she went to see the population in Holloway. Mrs. Jill Joyce, who is an education officer at Cookham Wood prison, visited Ghana and Nigeria last year where she spoke to government officials to try to raise the awareness of the strict penalties for drug trafficking. Her visit was well received by the authorities.

§ Lord Mishcon
My Lords, will the noble Earl consider the advisability of making international arrangements so that at every airport and port, both by way of embarkation and arrival, there are clear notices in languages that would be understood by the people concerned that severe penalties, including imprisonment, await anyone who is detected as a carrier?

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, that is certainly an idea. There is a wide range of customs notices and posters making perfectly plain the prohibition on the illicit importation of drugs into the United Kingdom. But drug couriers are normally people who are tempted by the large sums of money offered by the drug traffickers. Once they arrive here they have already decided to take what they know to be an illegal act, which makes it doubtful whether more notices reminding them of the risks would deter them. I shall certainly bear the point in mind.

§ Lord Mishcon
My Lords, perhaps the noble Earl will forgive me if I return to this subject because I believe it is extremely important. I was suggesting that notices on an international arrangement basis should be there before the courier leaves on the aircraft and also there when he arrives in this country. Therefore the warning will be particularly clearly given so that the courier knows exactly what the deterrent will be.

Earl Ferrers
Yes, my Lords, I see what the noble Lord is getting at. He wishes to have posters placed in airports throughout the world, not necessarily aimed at this country. I shall see what can be done about that and have the matter investigated.

§ Lord Blyth
My Lords, does the noble Earl have any figures regarding South American females from the Columbia and Ecuador region who are in the cocaine courier business?

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I do not have the figures with me but if they are available I shall write to the noble Lord.

§ Baroness Ewart-Biggs
My Lords, can the Minister say from where and when he received the figures? When in August I visited Holloway, Styal and Cookham Wood prisons I was led to believe that the figures were a great deal higher. Certainly half the inmates at Cookham Wood were there as a result of drug offences and they were all foreign women.

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I received the figures about an hour ago. I asked for them specifically because I thought that the noble Baroness might be interested in the female population. I do not have the figures for Cookham Wood but, in view of her interest, I shall try to add to the information that I have given.

§ Lord Mackie of Benshie
My Lords, can the noble Earl say what proportion of couriers are caught? It is all very well to warn them but they will be stopped only if they are caught when coming through. When one sees people going through the green section it appears to be a low risk.

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, in 1988 1,848 people were found guilty of the unlawful import and export of drugs. That figure includes Britons. Of those, 668 were sentenced to immediate imprisonment. Two hundred and seventy-nine (42 per cent.) of those who were imprisoned for the illicit import or export of drugs were born in the United Kingdom; 180 (27 per cent.) were born in Africa; 79 (12 per cent.) were born in the West Indies; 46 (7 per cent.) were born in Asia; and 42 (6 per cent.) were born elsewhere in Europe.

§ Lord Mackie of Benshie
My Lords, has the Minister made an estimate of their chances of success? Does a drug courier say to himself, "I have only one chance in 100 of being caught"? Has any such estimate been made?

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, the noble Lord asks an impossible question. One cannot estimate how many people got away with something about which we know nothing about.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, people from Scotland Yard informed our parliamentary drug abuse committee that only about 10 per cent. of drugs coming into the country were found.

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for passing on that information. I shall find out how that information was acquired.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, it is an approximate, rough estimate.