HC Deb 26 October 1989 vol 158 c608W
25. Mr. Marlow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress is being made towards concluding further international agreements to confiscate the assests of convicted drug traffickers.

54. Mr. Charles Wardle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress is being made towards concluding further international agreements to confiscate the assets of convicted drug traffickers.

Mr. John Patten

We have concluded reciprocal agreements or arrangements with 11 countries: the United States, Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Spain, Switzerland, Nigeria, Anguilla, Gibraltar and Malaysia. An agreement with Sweden is also near completion and negotiations are under way with several other countries.

57. Mr. Stevens

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will report the latest available totals for drug traffickers' assets confiscated or frozen pending trial.

Mr. John Patten

The information available centrally relates only to confiscation orders made under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986. For 1988, £8.1 million was ordered to be confiscated by the courts. The national drugs intelligence unit estimates that confiscation and restraint orders exceeding £13 million and £20 million respectively have been made since the Act came into force in January 1987.

61. Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drugs trafficking offences were recorded and successfully prosecuted during the past 12 months.

Mr. John Patten

The information available centrally indicates that 9,214 offences of trafficking in controlled drugs were dealt with in the United Kingdom in 1988. A total of 4,208 persons were found guilty of 5,600 of these offences and a further 811 persons were cautioned or dealt with by compounding (payment of a penalty in lieu of prosecution) for a single offence.

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