UK illegal drug seizures soar, data shows

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain seized over 119 metric tonnes of illegal drugs with a street value of around 3 billion pounds ($3.66 billion) in the year to March 2024, the government said on Thursday, the most since records began.

Official data covering England and Wales showed the volume of drugs seized by police and border officials rose 52% in the 12 months ending in March last year, including more than 28 tonnes of cocaine and 74 tonnes of herbal cannabis.

The total volume of drugs was the most since records began in 1973

There were a total of 217,644 drug seizures made over the period, compared to 191,623 in 2022/23, the data showed.

"These statistics send a clear message to organised criminal gangs that they will be caught and face the full force of the law if they try to smuggle drugs into our country," Home Office minister Seema Malhotra, whose brief includes Border Force operations, said in a statement.

In February 2024, the National Crime Agency said it had conducted the biggest ever seizure of Class A drugs in the United Kingdom, stopping 5.7 tonnes of cocaine at a port in southern England.

($1 = 0.8194 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti, editing by William James)

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