Drug profits take a hammering as Benzocaine haul is burned
9th August 2010
UK cocaine dealers have been denied potential profits running into millions of pounds after huge shipments of a chemical used to bulk out the drug were destroyed.
Two tonnes of Benzocaine, which arrived in four consignments at UK ports in the space of just one week, were seized by SOCA as part of a sustained assault on the trade in so-called ‘cutting agents’. When none of the four importers were able to provide SOCA with evidence of any legitimate customers in the UK, the haul was incinerated. SOCA has successfully prosecuted drug dealers using bulk quantities of cutting agents in the recent past and continues to do so.
By diluting cocaine, traffickers can make it go a lot further for very little cost, leading to huge profits. In recent years, dealers have moved away from inert substances, like sugar and baby milk powder, in favour of pharmaceutical substances, including anaesthetics like Benzocaine and Lidocaine. Both these mimic the numbing effect of cocaine, and resemble it closely in colour and texture, making it easier to conceal the fact that the drugs have been cut.
These ‘pharmaceutical’ cutting agents have helped traffickers to extend their market in the UK, particularly to young people aged from their mid teens to early twenties. By the time the drug has been cut at every stage of the trafficking process, it can reach street level with a purity as low as 2%. Users won’t get the buzz they expected but won’t know why, and every link in the criminal chain will have maximised its profits.
Sharon Lemon, SOCA Deputy Director, said:
“SOCA prosecutes those supporting the illegal drug market wherever it can. But we also want to find ways to cause damage and disruption to the large numbers involved. This seizure has taken millions out of drug dealers’ pockets – money which would have been reinvested in crime.
“This is an ongoing process. We can expect to see traffickers try to switch to other methods. We know what these are and will be watching. Importantly, their preferred agent has been denied to them so they will have to resort to poorer substitutes. These will not mask the cutting as effectively so people are much more likely to notice that they are getting a drop in quality but no drop in price.”
Brodie Clark, Head of the Border Force, said:
“With the purity levels of street level cocaine falling, preventing the importation of cutting agents is becoming increasingly important. Last month, a woman was jailed for nine years after we successfully proved that importing a cutting agent illegally was tantamount to supplying cocaine.
“That landmark ruling gives us much greater scope to target those involved in all aspects of drug smuggling, including those importing the likes of Benzocaine.”
Pharmaceutical cutting agents are chemically active substances which have health implications and side effects in their own right. Human consumption should generally be under medical supervision. One cutting agent, phenacetin, was banned in the UK when it was found to be carcinogenic and to cause renal failure, and last month an Irish coroner’s court reported on the death of a teenager who had taken cocaine mixed with four times the toxic dose of Lidocaine.