Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces, 2010-11

3. Quantities of Drugs Seized

3.1 Large Seizures

There can be considerable fluctuation in the quantities of drugs seized over time. Whilst most drug seizures consist of relatively small quantities, annual totals of drugs seized can be greatly influenced by a small number of large seizures.

Intelligence led operations against known drug dealers tend to result in a low number of seizures, but conversely the quantity of drugs seized and their value will be high. These high profile operations may result in greater disruption to the illicit drugs trade which, whilst having a positive effect, may reduce the number of seizures made. Care must be taken when comparing quantities.

When large quantities are present in the raw data, the relevant police force was contacted for confirmation. Each police force holds definitive data about their seizures.

3.2 Class A Drugs (Table 5)

Although there were more seizures involving heroin, the quantity of cocaine seized was larger. There were 145.2 kg of cocaine seized by police forces in Scotland in 2010-11, compared to 95.6 kg of heroin.

In 2010-11, there were 36.6 litres of methadone seized, along with 10,000 tablets of ecstasy-type substances and 9.1 kg of crack. The other types of listed class A drugs were seized in much smaller quantities.

The Scottish Policing Performance Framework (SPPF) Annual Report contains information on the quantities of class A drugs seized by the police in Scotland. The last report was published in October 2011 and contains data for the period 2007-08 to 2010-11. The figures in the Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces bulletin are not directly comparable with the figures in the SPPF due to the different time periods the data were collected. Accurate information about drug seizures may take up to nine months to be processed depending on the complexity of the operation and other operational factors. For further information please see Note 4.6. Furthermore, the figures contained in the SPPF are for all types of class A drugs and not just the subset included in this bulletin. However, this will likely have a minimal effect on the figures as the main types of class A drug are included in this bulletin.

The figures in the SPPF for the quantities of class A drugs seized in 2010-11 are lower than the figures shown in this bulletin.

The SPPF shows that the quantities of class A drugs seized, in terms of weight in kg and liquids in litres, have increased over the last four years and also in the most recent year between 2009-10 and 2010-11. The number of class A tablets seized has decreased in the latest year, as well as since 2007-08. The decrease in the number of class A tablets seized between 2007-08 and 2010-11 is considerable, with the decrease being 95.1%.

3.3 Class B Drugs (Table 6)

Over a tonne of cannabis resin was seized in 2010-11 by Scottish police forces. A further 867.2 kg of herbal cannabis was also seized. There were 34,799 cannabis plants seized in 2010-11. Of the cannabis plants seized 89.1% were seized by just three forces: Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, Lothian and Borders Police and Strathclyde Police.

There were 261.0 kg of amphetamines seized and only 200 barbiturate tablets seized. In weight terms there were more amphetamines seized than either cocaine or heroin.

3.4 Class C Drugs (Table 7)

With the exception of diazepam and anabolic steroids, the quantities of class C drugs seized was small compared to the quantities of either class A or class B drugs seized.

There were 678,100 diazepam tablets seized by Scottish police forces in 2010-11 and 46,400 tablets of anabolic steroids. Each of the eight Scottish police forces seized quantities of diazepam. However, only Grampian Police, Strathclyde Police and Tayside Police seized anabolic steroids, with 95.5% of these tablets being seized by Strathclyde Police.