Metropolitan Police records 43 per cent rise in drug offences during lockdown

Police officers raid a house after about 10 per cent of the country's county lines drug networks were shut down: NPCC/PA

Drug offences detected by the Met leapt by nearly half during the coronavirus lockdown earlier this year, figures revealed today.

The Office for National Statistics said police in London recorded a 43 per cent rise in drug offences between April and June as officers nationwide stepped up “proactive police activity in crime hotspots”.

It said the trend — which appears to reflect the freeing up of officers’ time as a result of falls in other crime — also occurred elsewhere in the country, with a 30 per cent rise in drug offences across England and Wales during the period.

But it said the rise in drug users and dealers being caught by police was “particularly evident in London where there was a 43 per cent increase in offences”.

Other statistics showed steep declines in other types of offending both in the capital and nationwide during the lockdown. In London, for example, knife crime fell by 44 per cent between April and June as most people remained at home and the opportunity for clashes on the streets involving young people declined.

That led to a 6 per cent drop in the knife offences in the capital in the year to the end of June, compared with the comparable previous 12 month period.

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