CUSTOMS union bosses in Southampton have warned of an influx of cocaine and heroin after it emerged that the number of drugs intelligence officers in the South is set to be cut by half.

Staff in the customs south west region, which covers the hundreds of miles of coastline from Brighton to Lands End, were told yesterday that 19 of the 37 jobs in drugs intelligence are expected to go by March next year.

In the last financial year undercover intelligence officers helped seize £29.3 million worth of class A drugs in the South. But the target they were set by bosses was £36 million.

At least ten jobs are expected to be lost in Southampton and Portsmouth, it is feared.

The officers, who often work deep undercover in partnership with elite police from the national crime squad to infiltrate smuggling rings, will either be switched to other areas or will change roles entirely to investigate VAT fraud instead.

Guy Austin, regional spokesman of the Public and Commercial Services union said: "Customs management are giving a higher priority to collecting VAT on things like take away food, for example, than protecting our children from drug traffickers.

"Without intelligence officers we will be working almost blind in trying to stop smugglers bringing drugs into the South West.

"It's a simple equation. If we have fewer drugs intelligence officers we fill find fewer drugs. That will mean the accountants who seem to run this operation will see fewer results and will cut budgets again. It will spiral downwards.

"The prices of drugs are not going up, the stuff is still coming in. Everyone knows you can go to many street corners and schools in Southampton and buy hard drugs at a cheap price."

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