Supplementary memorandum submitted by
SOCA
With regard to the total Law Enforcement seizures
of cocaine within the UK in 2008-09, the Home Office has indicated
that this amounted to 2900 Kg plus the 587 Kgs seized
by SOCA.
You may recall from the evidence I gave to the
Committee on 1 December, that it is not possible to give
a more up-to-date estimate of the cocaine powder entering the
UK each year at this stage. The figure referred to in both the
2008-09 and 2009-10 UK Threat Assessments (UKTA) was
based on estimates of consumption applied to 2003-04 in the
then NCIS UKTA and, as stated in the 2009-10 UKTA, no new
estimates have been produced since that time. Work is in hand,
however, to produce a revised estimate early in 2010 for
inclusion in the 2010-11 UKTA.
As we discussed on 1 December in relation
to seizures in Colombia, the criteria that are used to determine
whether a cocaine seizure is included in SOCA statistics were
contained in the response to a Parliamentary Question tabled by
James Brokenshire MP in November 2008 [232890]. In the question
he asked what factors the Serious Organised Crime Agency takes
into account when stating that a drugs seizure is attributable
to its activities [232890]? In our response we said that (seizures
are included in SOCA figures when a seizure is not solely the
result of SOCA operations) when either:
(a) SOCA does not have the power to seize drugs
but passes information onto another (usually foreign) law enforcement
agency to enable the seizure to be effected; or
(b) for operational reasons SOCA wishes not to
reveal its involvement in a drugs seizure.
In these instances the SOCA Officer leading
the investigation makes a judgement on whether or not the seizure
was made principally as a result of SOCA activity and/or the information
supplied by SOCA. When reporting these figures, SOCA does not
claim that these seizures are attributable solely to its activities.
As I said to the Committee, SOCA is subject
to audit on its figures and this includes auditing by the NAO.
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