Clause 8 - Extended detention of suspected drug offenders
Drugs Bill
4:45 pm
Ms Caroline Flint (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (reducing organised and international crime, anti drugs co-ordination and international and European issues), Home Office; Don Valley, Labour)
On first reading the amendment, I thought, ''Why not accept it?'' On the face of it, 192 hours, which is about 8 days, seems like a long time to hold somebody, and why would that power be needed to carry out an X-ray or a scan? That was my starting point. I hope that I shall be able to explain why it is necessary.
As we have discussed before, somebody who swallows drugs, suitably wrapped, upon arrest does so in order to conceal evidence and to avoid prosecution. At the moment, under PACE, a suspect can be detained for a maximum of 96 hours with charge. Apparently, that is often insufficient time for the substance to pass through the body. The record is 40 days. I do not know what the substance was—I can see the pained looks on people's faces—but it took that long or longer. We are not asking for 40 days. We spoke earlier about Manchester airport and mules. Customs officers often face similar problems in relation to people suspected of swallowing drugs in order to smuggle them into the country. The Criminal Justice Act 1988 made provision—
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
On resuming—