HC Deb 25 January 1990 vol 165 cc877-8W
79. Mr. David Martin

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the latest totals for assets confiscated from convicted drug traffickers, and assets frozen, pending trials for drug trafficking offences.

Mr. John Patten

The figures are substantially as given in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Smith) on 7 December at column381, except that the national drugs intelligence unit's current estimate is that more than £16 million has been ordered to be confiscated since the Drug Trafficking Offences Act came into force in January 1987.

142. Mrs. Maureen Hicks

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the efficiency of the Drugs Trafficking Offences Act 1986 in dealing with drug traffickers.

Mr. Mellor

The Government have kept the provisions of the Drug Trafficking Offences Act under close scrutiny since they came into effect in January 1987. The Act has worked well and has been a major weapon in the fight against drug trafficking, both domestically and internationally. In a recent case, for example, nearly £3 million was ordered to be confiscated from a group of convicted drug traffickers, bringing current estimates of the total ordered to be confiscated under the Act to more than £16 million.

The Government accept, however, that a provision of such significance may need adjustment in the light of experience. Some changes to the drug trafficking and money laundering provisions, to bring them fully into line with the requirements of the 1988 United Nations convention against illicit drug trafficking, are proposed in the Criminal Justice (International Cooperation) Bill, now before Parliament. The Government are also considering the relevant recommendations of the Home Affairs Committee report on drug trafficking and related serious crime (HC 370), and is discussing with practitioners how the working of the Act might be further improved. This is a continuing process, and the Government will not hesitate to make any changes which may be found to be necessary.

144. Mr. John Greenway

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the extent of drug trafficking in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Mellor

The ministerial group on the misuse of drugs, which I chair, receives regular assessments of the extent of drug misuse and trafficking in the United Kingdom. The picture as regards heroin is mixed: although provisional figures show an increase in Customs seizures in 1989 of over 40 per cent. to 332 kilos, latest reports indicate a levelling off in some areas in the supply of heroin at street level. It is, however, clear that the United Kingdom is facing an increasing threat from cocaine: provisional figures of Customs seizures of this drug in 1989 increased by some 50 per cent. to 424 kilos and more cocaine than heroin has been seized by Customs in each of the past three years. Traffic in other drugs such as amphetamines, cannabis, LSD and MDMA (ecstasy) remains of concern.