By Rachel Charman
Rochford and Southend East Conservative MP James Duddridge yesterday enquired into illegal drugs sold in Southend by people of Somalian origin.
Mr Duddridge yesterday addressed his question to the Secretary of State for the Home Department Alan Johnson.
He wrote: “to ask what assessment he has made of the trends in levels of illegal drugs sold by Somali nationals in Southend and England and Wales.”
Mr Duddridge received a response from Alan Campbell, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office, who wrote:
“A formal assessment into the trends in the sales of illegal drugs by Somali nationals has not been made.
“Drug offences are not separately identifiable by nationality.
“The illegal supply of drugs is a serious matter.
“Trafficking in controlled drugs of all classes needs to be tackled robustly in order to reduce the harm drugs cause to communities and organised criminality associated with their supply.
“The Government’s strategy is to bear down on all points in the drugs supply chain in order to disrupt criminal gangs, stifle drug supply and reduce the harm caused to communities in the UK.
“Increasing quantities of drugs are being seized and organised crime groups and dealers disrupted.
“The latest figure published show that in 2008-09, there were a record 241,090 drug seizures by police and UK Border Agency (including HMRC) in England and Wales, up six per cent from the 228,131 seizures the previous year.
“These figures include 3,988 drug seizures made by Essex police in 2008-09, an increase of 45 per cent. on seizures made in 2007-08 (2,747).”
Last week, police in Southend investigated Malvern Tower, Coleman Street, where they believe Somalian criminal gangs are selling crack cocaine and heroin.
According to the Southend Standard, 15 officers with two sniffer dogs were looking for drugs hidden in communal areas.
Officers believe that gang members have been forcing their way into residents’ homes and using the flats as bases for their activities.
Inspector Lee Norris of Southend Police told the Southend Standard:
“Southend has an underlying issue of drug dealing by Somali gangs.
“We seek to disrupt and dispel the dealing.
“Class A drug dealing is believed to be taking place in and around the Quantock, Pennine, Chiltern and Malvern flats.
“We believe the Somalis forcibly occupy a flat and sell class A drugs from that flat for a short time, before moving on.
“The communal areas are believed to be used to store the drugs.
“Issues in the tower blocks are regularly identified at neighbourhood action panel meetings and when we knock on doors.”