We were entertained and very well informed on Tuesday by our recent speaker, Malcolm Nelson. He has spent many years working in customs control, mainly at Heathrow Airport where 80% of the drugs found coming into the country are identified. SO….those of you that may be starting to squirm in your seats because of the odd extra bottle of wine or ouzo that sneaked in at the bottom of your suitcase, you can rest easy, he focused mainly of the smuggling of drugs.
Malcolm provided insight into the extensive structure of personnel that are responsible and functioning in all areas of the airport, not just hovering in the green channel. He spoke of the value of the working dogs, of which there are three different styles of behaviour trained into the dogs, and that their input counts for at least 40% of successful identifications.
He highlighted the range of strategies, devices and intelligence used to catch the criminals, and the interesting decisions to be made on the spot as to whether to catch the “mule” carrying the drugs or to allow them to “get away” so that the trail can be followed to the more hardened members of the cartel.
Despite this being a very tragic side of human nature, that a drug problem exists and that there are a great number of people happy to exploit such a need, it is reassuring to note that there is a wealth of skill and determination within our society to try to expunge such crimes.
Babs Cooper