Innocent victims Illegal drugs are causing all sorts of social
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problems in the UK, and the Government is determined to crack down on the professional criminals who are behind this deadly trade. But a growing number of innocent truck drivers, used as unwitting "mules", are being caught up in the war on drugs.
The UK haulage industry is used to getting a bad press. If it's not being pilloried for single-handedly destroying the environment, it's getting the blame for deploying surly, arrogant drivers whose sole ambition in life is to hound decent, law-abiding motorists off the road.
For the most part, hauliers are able to shake off the worst excesses of tabloid stereotyping. But they could find it much harder to maintain a respectable public profile after the release of the latest drugs trafficking data by Customs and Excise. These showed that in 1997 the number of drug finds involving private and commercial vehicles was more than double the 1997 level, with seizures of heroin leaping to record levels.
Trends in other narcotics were mixed. Fewer vehicles were picked up carrying synthetic drugs (such as LSD and amphetamines) or herbal cannabis, but the volume of cannabis resin and cocaine rose.
Customs figures do not break down into vehicle types, but while private motorists do account for some of these consignments, the bulk of them were stashed on commercial vehicles plying the international trade routes. Truck drivers are well aware of the risks involved in smuggling. But some find it impossible to resist the temptation of easy money by agreeing to stash illicit drugs on their vehicles, while many others have been duped into acting as unwitting "mules" for international drug gangs and found themselves at the mercy of foreign legal systems.
What makes the latest smuggling data particularly disturbing is the considerable increase in the quantities of heroin— arguably the most pernicious and damaging of all illegal substances—being found on trucks entering the UK through major ferry ports. There were 21 seizures of heroin in vehicles last year, up from just 10 in 1996. And, just as alarming, the average haul rose from 217kg to 713kg—a vast amount when addicts are committing crimes for fractions of a gram.
Vehicles have become by far the most popular means of entry for heroin, far outstripping smuggling in baggage or ships' cargoes, strapping packages to couriers' bodies, or sending them through the mail. Customs officials are loath to agree that increased detections on trucks and cars equates to increased smuggling. But they are growing increasingly worried at the amount of the Class A drug that appears to be flooding into Britain on trucks passing through major commercial trading routes. "It's a moot point," says Customs spokesman Mark Thomson. "I would not like to say whether we are winning or losing. The Home Office says the number of drug addicts has levelled off but drug seizure figures are up.
"We don't know if the amount of smuggling has actually increased," he adds, "but we do know that most of our heroin comes from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan and is shipped to Turkey and then refined. Then it is driven overland through Eastern Europe into the UK. Heroin is one of the drugs we would expect to find at ports like Dover, Harwich and Ramsgate."
Such is the scale of the problem that Customs maintains a dedicated search team at Dover and runs a training school where officers from other countries come to learn how to find consignments hidden in vehicles.
Trade routes According to Thomson, illegitimate narcotics trafficking will always follow legitimate trade routes, making the haulage industry a prime candidate for exploitation. And despite the growing number of seizures, there has been no increase in the street price of heroin, suggesting that ample supplies are still getting through. "The one we are particularly worried about is heroin," says Thomson. "Seizures have increased but the price is falling."
As part of a new strategy in the war on drugs, the Government has pledged to spend an extra £5m—to be taken from the seized profits of traffickers—on promoting prevention and treatment, setting national targets for improvements, and educating every child from the age of five on the dangers of drugs. For drivers who are caught with heroin on board, for example, this means they not only face up to 10 years in jail: their trucks could be seized and sold to raise cash for the anti-drugs campaign.
"If an owner-operator was involved we would certainly seize the truck," says Thomson. "But if it was an employee of a company we would not—although we would have the power to do it just to make an example of them." The bald statistics paint the haulage industry in a bad light. But the history of truck drivers' involvement in drugs smug gling is littered with injustices, where innocent truckers have been the fall guys for gangs of criminals. Customs admits the duping of British drivers is a problem, especially in France and Spain, but in the past it has taken criticism for being too ready to pin the blame on drivers, rather than hunting down the real criminals. This is a charge which Customs vehemently denies. "We always check people's stories out," Thomson insists. "We don't have a reputation for fitting people up." Under an agreement with the United Road Transport Union, Customs has pledged not to make assumptions on the guilt of drivers. But some observers say UK Customs is still handling some cases—not just those involving drugs—as poorly as officials in other countries.
According to Stephen Jakobi, director of the legal pressure group Fair Trials Abroad, the recent case of a Portuguese driver held in prison for nine months before being cleared on charges of evading duty on a cargo of cigarettes highlights flaws in the system—and makes it hard for his group to fight for fair treatment for British drivers imprisoned abroad on drugs charges. "I get very worried when I see cases like this," he says. "To make a lorry driver responsible for whether or not duty has been paid is insanity. We ought not to be doing this." However, he is quietly confident that the Foreign Office is undergoing a sea change in its attitude to British drivers jailed overseas for drugs smuggling.
He claims to have seen a letter from a Foreign Office minister which has been circulated to all British consulates instructing them to consider more carefully cases where truckers are charged with ferrying narcotics.
"The Foreign Office has moved in the right direction," Jakobi concludes." The decision has been taken to circulate this view and they don't mind it being known...at last there is a ray of hope."
-J by Pat Hagan