National Crime Agency head spells out limits of what can be achieved in fight against drugs

Chasing smuggled shipments of illegal narcotics and hunting down crime lords stands little chance of halting the flow of cocaine, heroin and other illegal drugs that triggers violence on Britain’s streets, a top law enforcement official has said.

Vince O’Brien, the head of operations for drugs, firearms and other commodities for the National Crime Agency, told the Guardian law enforcement in the UK expected the availability of illegal drugs to continue at least at their present level or rise, amid claims it is quicker to get class A drugs delivered than a pizza.

He said reducing demand was key – but the desire for class A drugs was as strong as ever with profits huge, and crime barons innovating their products for users who see them as a choice of lifestyle rather than of addiction.

Whereas previously, county lines tactics had gangs from big cities selling drugs into smaller towns and rural areas, now gangs based in almost half of areas served by the 43 police forces in England and Wales sell drugs out of their areas, the NCA’s annual threat assessment will say on Tuesday.

The NCA is described as Britain’s version of the FBI and O’Brien is part of the country’s senior leadership fighting the drugs trade.

The UK’s main drugs policy has been prohibition, and trying to catch the importers, smugglers and dealers.

Record cocaine production is reported in the main source country, Colombia, which has more than doubled since 2012, and heroin production has also hit record levels, despite western efforts to stem the flow.

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O’Brien said he and colleagues in law enforcement were making big seizures of drugs, but warned criminals would find a way to get drugs to consumers whose thirst for them, whether out of choice or addiction, remained strong.

He said: “Have we in disrupting that criminal group made a large step in choking off drug supply to the UK? I don’t think that is a realistic objective for us to have. Because you can only tackle supply if you tackle the demand market as well.

“While there is user base willing to spend millions and millions of pounds worth on drugs, which represent millions and millions of pounds worth of profit, then we will have an issue with illicit drugs in this country.

“We can’t arrest our way out of that anymore than we can arrest our way out of serious violence. We need to tackle the drivers behind it.”

Nothing O’Brien said suggested any dissent from the policy of chasing drug barons. But his comments set out the limits of what law enforcement think they can achieve in the fight against the drug trade. Privately key law enforcement figures think that the demand for drugs is so enduring that the supply will continue as well as the associated dynamics driving violence on Britain’s streets and the exploitation of the young and vulnerable.

O’Brien said: “While we have high levels of production and we have high levels of demand we will continue to have the resilient market we have at the moment. And we need to tackle both of those more effectively.”

O’Brien said drugs barons had launched new upmarket cocaine aimed at wealthier users in Britain as they market illegal narcotics as a lifestyle choic, rather than addiction. “Calli” is a brand of higher purity cocaine O’Brien described a “significant” development, retailing at £100 a gramme, compared with £40 to £70 a gramme for regular-strength cocaine.

Cocaine on the dark web is also being marketed as ethically grown and organic.

Drug smuggling and distribution has the biggest profit margins of the old-style crimes, O’Brien said: “Drugs is so much more lucrative than smuggling firearms or smuggling people.”

Street prices have remained stable and the mark-ups are huge: “While there is significant demand for that, then the economics are going to be compelling and we need to tackle that demand,” he said.

While some, about 1%, is sent by post through purchases on the dark web, some is smuggled direct from drug cartels in Colombia by chartered plane. But most is smuggled in through freight via ports.

O’Brien said: “As an island with hundreds and hundreds of miles of coastline to protect there are significant vulnerabilities for people to bring in illicit commodities. And although we do seize large amounts and we do bring criminal gangs to justice, there are significant risks that are successfully exploited.”

The tactics of county lines is detected among gangs in almost half of the 43 police force areas, not just from gangs based in big urban areas, the NCA’s new threat assessment will say on Tuesday.

County lines is not creating fresh demand but leads to violence and exploitation of children as drugs gangs fight each other for control of local drug markets. The biggest drugs markets remain in the urban centres.

Earlier this month, Cressida Dick, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said rises in serious violent crime such as stabbings and homicide were, in part at least, due to drugs. “Undoubtedly, the drug markets are a big part of the problem,” she said.