Mephedrone, which has a similar effect to amphetamines, ecstasy or cocaine, reportedly has side effects including psychosis, weight loss and insomnia.

It is legal in the UK and the Home Office is awaiting advice on whether to criminalise its possession and supply.

But Guernsey officials say they must be “proactive” in acting before the UK.

Mephedrone, also known as “miaow” or “plant food”, is one of a range of “legal highs” that have become popular among students and clubbers across the British Isles in the past two years.

But as well as health problems reported by some users, the white powder – which is snorted or injected – has also been unofficially linked to several deaths.

Prison inmate use

Andrea Nightingale, Guernsey’s drug and alcohol co-ordinator, said: “You look at the effects and they’re likened to ecstasy and possibly cocaine – these are class A drugs.

“So presumably, if [mephedrone is] causing the same effect, it may be that [it's] put at that level.”

The UK government has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to recommend whether mephedrone should be made illegal in Britain.

The Channel Islands usually follow UK government drug policy, but in December Guernsey’s Channel Island neighbour, Jersey, outlawed mephedrone, placing it in the lowest drug category – class C.
Guernsey – which has never had a big drugs problem – banned the importation of mephedrone and other legal highs in 2009.

Ms Nightingale said its authorities were now conducting their own research into the drug’s effects.

“We need to be proactive as far as an island is concerned,” she said.

“If the support isn’t there from the UK at this time and it’s going to be a lengthy process then possibly we have to feel we can’t wait and that we go it alone.”

Customs officials say the importation ban has stopped legal highs being sold openly in shops on the island and prevented some drugs getting through.

But Billy Gilvear, the chaplain at Guernsey Prison, said there had been a rapid increase in mephedrone use among young offenders, with more than a third of inmates addicted to the drug.

He said offenders had suffered serious problems after injecting the drug: “They had lost a lot of weight, very gaunt-looking. Some of them had gouged faces, necks and arms but also mentally there was paranoia, they hadn’t slept for some time.

“With lack of sleep, lack of eating, weight loss, they were in bad shape.”
‘Unknown quantity’

One of the prisoners, an 18-year-old former heroin user called Danni, was jailed for theft and fraud offences, crimes she had committed to fund a £500-a-week mephedrone habit.

“I couldn’t get myself out of bed, I was very skinny,” she said.
“I was having to detox off of all sorts of different drugs. I wasn’t really getting the right help to detox off them, I was left to myself basically to do it. I was at death’s door really.”

Drug agency workers said mephedrone was an “unknown quantity” and that little was known about the most effective forms of treatment.

Tracey Rear, manager of Drug Concern, in Guernsey, said: “There has been no long-term research on it. We don’t know what the long-term effects are.

“We’re getting clients coming in who can be quite chaotic, their lives have taken quite a dip, so it presents a real risk because we don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

William Thomson, 47, from Lanark, was arrested in October 2006 as part of a major operation by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

Officers swooped after witnessing him transfer a holdall full of money to a car in Uddingston.

The cash was later stolen from Hamilton police station by a civilian worker.

Robert Moffat, who was a member of police support staff who looked after evidence, was found guilty of the theft and jailed for 22 months in November 2008.

Thomson, who has links to serious and organised crime, was found guilty of offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
The court heard that his arrest was part of a two-year investigation by the SCDEA, codenamed Acrid.

The operation focused on the activities of an organised crime group operating in the Lanarkshire and Glasgow areas.

Officers carrying out surveillance on Thomson saw him hand a bag to the occupant of Peugeot car in Uddingston.

Strathclyde Police later stopped the vehicle on the M74 near Bothwell and the holdall was found to contain cash totalling £120,000.

The money forensically examined and found to be heavily contaminated with heroin.

The SCDEA said about 7kg of the drug could be purchased with £120,000 and this would make approximately 70,000 street deals of heroin.

Illegal trafficking

Det Ch Supt Allan Moffat, from SCDEA, said: “As a result of our investigation a drug dealer is now behind bars where he belongs.

“The amount of cash that was seized provides an indication of the scale of illegal drug trafficking that he was responsible for.

“This individual is well-known to the local community for his links to serious organised crime and I am sure they will welcome justice being served.”

He added: “We use a variety of tactics and techniques to detect and disrupt the activities of serious organised crime groups, and today’s result demonstrates that we are committed to using the full capability of the Poca legislation in the support of prosecutions against criminals.”

Thomson was ordered to return to Hamilton Sheriff Court later this month for a confiscation hearing.

Steven Gordon, 22, was sentenced to four years and eight months and Alexander Sutherland, 20, was given three years and six months.

Two teenage runners who delivered drugs packages for the gang on their bikes were also sentenced.

Jordan Donnelly and Dylan Shaw received probation and community service.

The four had admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin in Glasgow between August and 4 September last year at an earlier hearing.

Sentencing them at the High Court in Dumbarton, judge Lord Pentland said it was clear that members of the gang played a significant part in keeping the streets of Glasgow supplied with the drug.He ordered Donnelly, 17, and Shaw, 16, to spend two years on probation and carry out 120 hours community service.

The court heard that the gang operated from camp on waste ground in Saracen area. Their code to tell customers drugs were available was: “The shop is open.”

Their operation was broken up by a covert police investigation codenamed “Operation Hudson”.

Undercover officers, named in court only as “Scott” and “Stuart”, were given cash to buy drugs.

Some of the deals which followed were filmed and recorded on tape.

Police were involved in 34 transactions and witnessed many more.

At one point during the undercover operation the detectives saw up to 15 potential customers hanging about.

“Scott” was given a telephone number and when he called, the male who answered told him: “The shop is open.”

Well organised

When Shaw’s home was raided in September last year police found 12 wraps of heroin.

Sutherland, who claimed he was a used car dealer, had £2,420 in cash in his home and serial numbers on some of the notes showed they had come from the undercover detectives.

Gordon had £560 in cash, and claimed he had won it at the bookies.

Advocate depute Leanne Cross said the total street value for the drugs bought was £1,135 and the heroin in Shaw’s home was worth £200.

She said that although the total seized was relatively low, police experts thought the accused were all involved in a large scale, well-organised business.

She added: “It is accepted by the Crown that the accused in the dock were not in overall control of what was clearly a larger operation run by others.”

John Edney, 57, of Main Road, Sutton-at-Hone, Kent, told the jury at Blackfriars Crown Court: “I don’t hold with drugs in any way”.

It is alleged Mr Edney brought three 4×4 vehicles and insured them in false names for a gang to use.

He denies a charge of conspiring to supply a class A drug, namely cocaine.

The court previously heard that 1,554kg (3,425lb) of the drug was found when a boat sank off the Irish coast.

Bales of cocaine

Prosecutors argue that Mr Edney conspired together with Michael Daly, Alan Wells and others to supply the drug.

Retired Metropolitan Police detective Daly, 49, and Wells, 56, have admitted their part in the conspiracy.

Three other men – Perry Wharrie, Martin Wanden and Joe Daly – were convicted in Cork, Ireland, while a fourth, Gerard Hagan, pleaded guilty.

Martin Heslop, defending, asked Mr Edney: “Were you ever involved in any conspiracy to import cocaine or serious drugs into the UK?”

He replied: “No, not at all”.

Mr Heslop continued: “Did you have any idea at all that they [the vehicles] may be connected to a drug smuggling operation?”

“Absolutely not,” Mr Edney said.

He added: “I don’t hold with drugs in any way. To be involved in any such operation was out of the question.”

The men behind the plot tried to land 62 bales of cocaine using a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB), the court previously heard.

But in rough seas the vessel ran out of fuel and began to sink, leaving members of the gang to swim ashore.

The trial continues.

The plants were found in East Street, Bedminster, on Wednesday.

The men, aged 30 and 28, appeared before city magistrates charged with production of a Class B drug.

They were also charged with possession with intent to supply a Class B drug and using electricity without authority.

It was the third similar raid in less than three weeks within the Hinckley and Bosworth local policing unit area, and the second one which followed information supplied through Crimestoppers.

Officers recovered 70 plants from a house in Stanley Street, Barwell on Thursday afternoon (February 11).

They recovered 72 plants, which have been sent for scientific analysis.

No arrests have been made yet.

Inspector Rich Ward, commander of the Hinckley and Bosworth local policing unit, said: “I would like to thank those members of the public who have given us information leading to these raids. We have acted swiftly and decisively – and we will continue to do so.

“The community in Barwell and Earl Shilton have told us that tackling drugs is one of their local priorities, and this latest raid is one of the ways we are responding to that.

“We will continue to take action where we have the evidence and information to back it up.

“If there are any more cannabis growers in the Hinckley area, be warned – we could be at your door tomorrow.”

Sue Langley, Crimestoppers’ East Midlands Regional Manager said: “Results such as this cannabis factory raid clearly demonstrate the importance of information from the public in the fight against crime. Last year the charity passed on 1200 useful pieces of information to Leicestershire police so we are pleased see continuing success.”

Officers recovered 72 plants from a house in Stanley Street, Barwell, on Thursday. No arrests have yet been made.

It was the third similar raid in the Hinckley and Bosworth policing area in the past three weeks, officers said.

Police said in two of the cases tip-offs came from the public via charity Crimestoppers.
Insp Rich Ward said: “I would like to thank those members of the public who have given us information leading to these raids.

“We have acted swiftly and decisively – and we will continue to do so.

“If there are any more cannabis growers in the Hinckley area, be warned – we could be at your door tomorrow.”

Crimestoppers, an independent charity helping police fight crime, said it passed on 1,200 pieces of useful information to Leicestershire Police last year.

Sue Langley, of Crimestoppers’ East Midlands, said: “Results such as this cannabis factory raid clearly demonstrate the importance of information from the public in the fight against crime.”

Six addresses in Rowanfield, Hester’s Way and Bishops Cleeve were raided on Thursday and 11 people arrested.

A spokesman said cash and a quantity of what was suspected to be Class A drugs were seized during the operation.

Seven men and one woman, aged between 18 and 53, were due to appear at Cheltenham Magistrates Court.

On Friday seven more searches were carried out at addresses in Prestbury, Hesters Way and Cheltenham town centre.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Pc Mark Bohannan, passed on information that allowed Syed Imtiaz Ahmed to drug-deal “undetected and unpunished”.

The Metropolitan Police officer was found guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

Bohannan, of Chapel Road, Bexleyheath, Kent, will be sentenced on 12 March.

His wife, Denise Bohannan, also of Chapel Road, was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office and will be sentenced on the same day.

The couple were both granted bail.

Investigations ‘compromised’

Bohannan had been a field intelligence officer with the Met’s Territorial Support Group, in Catford, south London.

He used the access the job gave him to password-protected databases “corruptly”, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The jury heard the officer, with 25 years’ experience, had deliberately passed information to a criminal and carried out searches of confidential police systems after Ahmed asked him to.

The officer previously admitted his actions “compromised” police investigations as he passed information to his wife Denise, used her as an informant without telling his colleagues, and failed to report her possession of class A drugs.
The couple, who have been married for 21 years, had a “corrupt” relationship with Ahmed, David Durose, prosecuting told the jury.

Ahmed was the “co-ordinator of a drugs organisation responsible for the supply of cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis over a period of many years”, he said.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said “an extremely dangerous conspiracy has been foiled” by the jury’s verdicts.

Gaon Hart, from the CPS’s special crime division, said: “We believe that justice has been served for the public in this case and an extremely dangerous conspiracy has been foiled.

“The jury agreed today that Pc Mark Bohannan conspired with a drug dealer to provide sensitive police information in exchange for money and for free drugs for his wife.

“The information provided by Pc Bohannan enabled a drugs conspiracy to continue for many years and, most dangerously, included identifying the home addresses of individuals who owed money to the drug dealers as well as warning the dealers of potential police activity.”

Michael Bromley-Martin, defending the officer, conceded a sentence of immediate imprisonment was “inevitable” in his client’s case.

Bohannan has been suspended from the Met and misconduct proceedings against him are expected to begin soon.

A 19-year-old man has been charged with possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply and a 26-year-old man has been charged with possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply.

Both are to appear before Londonderry Magistrates Court on Saturday morning.

A 55-year-old man was also charged with possession of class B drugs. He will appear in court on a later date.

Police said that there were searches at six locations across Derry.

A 22-year-old female arrested during the operation was released on bail pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service.

Two other men, aged 22 and 24, were arrested and later released pending further inquiries.