Although the traditional drug dealer still exists in the real world, there is a growing market of online drug dealers. This younger generation uses digital services all day long.
A website like Silk Road is purported to be totally anonymous, but anything that is done via the internet leaves a digital trail, no matter what anonymising methods are used. But to say that makes it easier for us to follow would be overstating the case.
A lot of people think they are two different people, online and offline. In truth, you are a real person when you go on to the internet, and a real person when you log off – no matter what you do when you are on there, be it firearms, drugs, or child abuse images. At some point you are a real person, and that is the weak point.
The chain of communication has changed. Twenty-five years ago it was quite hard for a criminal gang here to speak to somebody in South America. Now they can use any one of numerous methods to set up what are effectively face-to-face meetings.
Drug trends come and go. Cocaine remains a significant drug of choice. But we are increasingly seeing lots of new acid/LSD-type drugs, which can cause a lot of damage.
A kilo block of cocaine enters the UK in its raw form, anywhere from 75% to 90% pure. It is being sold on the streets from 0% purity to 25% purity. Everything else has been added. Organised crime gangs multiply their profits by adding 'cutting agents' [for example, benzocaine, novocaine, phenacetin]. We have concentrated a lot on that, to the point that we have altered and disrupted that marketplace. In many cases the dealers involved have been charged and convicted with conspiracy. They are receiving custodial sentences of 10 to 20 years, because they are the key enabler of a drug's supply.
Our work breaks down into different areas: class A drugs; the supply of cutting agents; and then, more recently, new psychoactive substances (NPS), which we never refer to as legal highs. Alongside that, there is the emerging area of dark markets, by which drugs are bought and sold on the internet. I think of sites such as Silk Road, and Silk Road 2.0. There are roughly 28 dark marketplaces that we are aware of.
In traditional criminal offences there were UK boundaries. With the internet the criminality might be occurring in the UK, but the individual might be purporting to be in Brazil, and actually be in Spain. That makes the legal issues much more complex; legislation will have to keep pace with that.
This work has its frustrations, obviously. But it was frustrating at times investigating armed robbers when I was with the Flying Squad. I'm the sort of person who, when I am told that I won't be able to do something… well, that is probably a way to make sure that I keep trying to do it.
You can't just tackle drugs, it's too huge a field. We have to break it down, and see where we can have the most impact. One of our big successes has been in disrupting the supply of cutting agents, predominantly online.
We are interested above all in prevention and disruption. Success is not measured by conviction and sentencing or seizure alone. We are aiming at changes of behaviour.
If you gave me 6,000 officers I could do an awful lot more. But we do the best, obviously, with what we have.
One difficulty with online crime is that a huge amount of data is generated. In the past you could go through the paperwork quite quickly; now one hard drive will produce a vast amount of evidence.
We recently did some scientific work on the NPS being sold online and a number of them were actually controlled illegal drugs. Almost worse was the fact that with others nobody knew what was in them. If I told you to go and swallow bleach you wouldn't do it, but if I told you I had this great new drink …
Kids, as we know, can be tempted to try anything. That is what I keep at the back of my mind when I ask myself why I'm doing this. If a white powder comes online tomorrow advertised as the new whizz bang pop, and no one knows exactly what it is, who knows if that isn't going to be the next drug that kills our children?
