UK Borders: will not arrest passengers for small amounts of Cannabis

Border officials have been told not to arrest passengers caught with cannabis in their luggage, a report revealed last night.
Official guidance to Customs staff tells them not to arrest anyone with ‘personal use’ quantities o drugs.
The rules are also thought to also apply to other drugs in that category, including amphetamines and mephedrone.

Whether you are travelling domestically or internationally, dogs are very rarely found in domestic terminals, and if they are, they are highly likely to be bomb sniffing dogs. Internationally, it is a different story because there are both bomb and drug-sniffing dogs roaming around occasionally.

Staff at UK borders have been told not to arrest anyone with ‘personal use’ amounts of class B drugs
Drugs campaigners said the incident suggested ministers had ‘given up’ on enforcing drugs laws.Mary Brett, from Cannabis Skunk Sense, said: ‘This is extraordinary. Why do we bother to have laws on cannabis if they’re not going to be enforced?
‘What message does it send when people aren’t stopped with illegal drugs? We seem to have given up entirely on cannabis, and made it de facto decriminalised.’
Details of the Border Force edict emerged in an official immigration inspectors report into Stansted Airport.
A passenger was arrested after customs officials found cannabis in his baggage – but then let him go, the report said.
Astonishingly, the report suggested he was ‘de-arrested’ because officials concluded he was high on drugs at the time.

Instead of getting the usual caution or even being arrested for cannabis smuggling, those caught with under one ounce of cannabis will be let go. It is not yet known why there is to be more leniency at international borders than there is for citizens and residents already within the country.

Could it be that officials are expecting an influx of tourists from one of the increasing number of cannabis friendly administrations around the UK, such as Colorado and Uruguay? (I’ve heard the quality and deals are better there than in Britain). Or is it that so many people are found coming through with such low amounts that there is little time and resources for the UK Border Agency to police these matters? It would be terrible if officers were cavity searching an old lady for accidentally bringing back some Nederhash from Amsterdam and some terrorists waltzed through security now wouldn’t it?

A UK Border Force spokesman said: “Our message is clear: Importing cannabis is illegal and our officers will seize it and other illegal drugs if smugglers try to bring it into the UK.

“Like the police, UK Border Force officers have powers to deal with small seizures of Class B and C drugs, in quantities consistent with personal use, without referring the matter to court.

“Since we split the UK Border Force from UKBA, it has been making significant improvements in its performance – security has been strengthened and excessive queues are gone.”

Non-flying passengers were also able to take advantage of the duty-free deals due to a fault in the airport layout, making it possible to buy products such as cigarettes and alcohol at prices usually only available to travellers. This was only brought to staff’s attention when one customer came back twice in one day!

It looks like it doesn’t matter if they are legal or not there’s something not quite normal going on at Stansted Airport when it comes to drugs.

The spokesperson continued “Transforming all areas of the UK Border Force will take time but I am confident that we are making the right changes with security now at the heart of everything UK Border Force does.”