DRUGS FLOOD IN AS CUSTOMS CUTS LEAVE COAST UNGUARDED

IT stretches for more than 4,000 miles from Eyemouth in the south-east to
Annan in the south-west, with thousands of coves and inlets cutting into
the twists and turns in between.

Scotland's coastline has been described in the past as a smuggler's
paradise. Now critics are claiming that its often remote and uninhabited
coastline is becoming even more of an easy target for international drug
traffickers.

Senior customs officials say criminals are seeing Scottish beaches and
ports as a "soft touch" following the restructuring of the service since 1996.

Officials accuse the Government of focusing too much on breaking down
traditional trafficking routes through England at Scotland's expense.

Today, a map compiled by The Scotsman outlines the full extent of
Scotland's frontline coastal defences against some of Europe's biggest drug
smugglers as the Government's once widespread customs intelligence network
lies alarmingly exposed - decimated by sweeping financial cutbacks.

The closures stretch from Newton Stewart and Ardrossan in the south-west
around the coast to Ullapool, Wick, Peterhead, Fraserburgh - and Kirkcaldy
and Grangemouth in the east.

They also highlight bases on some of Scotland's islands - including Islay,
Skye and Orkney - as places where cover has been pulled.

Ironically, Jim Wallace, Scottish justice minister and the man responsible
for fighting the drugs scourge, has complained about cutbacks in customs
and excise bases - including the closure of a post in Kirkwall in his
Orkney constituency.

In 1998, as Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Wallace warned that
closing the base at Oban would be a "charter for drug smugglers". His fears
were reinforced at the time by former Provo and police informer Martin
McGartland, who said it would invite gangs to smuggle at will.

McGartland, who survived an IRA assassination attempt on his life, said:
"It is safe and easy to move drugs and guns around the west coast."

On Thursday this week, a Parliamentary Select Committee on Scottish
Affairs, chaired by Paisley MP Irene Adams, will reveal the results of its
study into the effectiveness of Scotland's current customs and excise
operation.

Sources have indicated to The Scotsman that the report will make
uncomfortable reading for those who have presided over the changes to
customs operations.

The study was prompted by rising concerns about the increase in cigarette
and drug smuggling operations and is expected to voice concern over current
arrangements and call for more officers to be placed at key locations
around Scotland's coastline.

Unions representing customs officers are concerned that hundreds of
uniformed officers have been made redundant or redeployed in recent years
to concentrate the anti-drugs fight at airports and the larger ports.

This has left almost 95 per cent of Scotland's harbours without a uniformed
customs presence, with the majority of officers now stationed at in-land
offices often hundreds of miles from the remote bays and sea inlets they
are charged with monitoring. Yet, according to the latest figures from the
National Criminal Intelligence Service, major traffickers are continuing
the flow of narcotics into Scotland's towns and cities.

The number of drug seizures rose nearly four-fold between 1985 and 1995 and
increased by a further 40 per cent by 1998. However, there was a fall of
4.9 per cent in Scotland in 1999, which some critics claim is down to the
restructuring of the customs service.

In Glasgow and Edinburgh today, the street price for a gramme of cocaine is
lower than ever. Cigarette smuggling, north and south of the border also
continues to rise, and last year the trade in illegal tobacco cost
taxpayers ?3.5 billion.

The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents Customs
officers, said Scotland's coastline remained a magnet for smugglers - and
questioned the growing concentration on English routes.

Bill Johnstone, Scottish spokesman for the PCSU, said: "The reality is drug
and cigarette smugglers are continuing to widely use the western islands
and harbours around the East coast of Scotland to bring in their early
trade - you only have to look at the very serious heroin problem places
like Fraserburgh and Peterhead have."

The face of Scotland's anti-smuggling customs operation changed
dramatically in the early 1990s after the Conservative government decided
that basing customs officers at remote coastline stations was no longer
part of a viable strategy to help win the war against increasingly
sophisticated smugglers.

The nationwide theory was simple - a hi-tech, intelligence-based service
was needed to stay one step ahead of the drug traffickers and arms dealers.

Instead of ground-based intelligence at remote harbours and sea inlets,
customs resources would be "brigaded" from main offices and reaction forces
would be created to deal with trouble spots.

The result was the loss of hundreds of jobs and the closure of customs and
excise offices around the UK, with Scotland bearing the heaviest burden of
all with the eventual closure of more than 20 customs stations dotted
around the coastline.

The majority of Scotland's Customs officers are now based at command
centres in Aberdeen, Shetland, Dundee, Edinburgh and Paisley. A further 150
customs staff are also based at Scotland's airports.

Despite the evidence, HM Customs insists the new strategy is effective -
and that it was right to focus on "the major ports like Liverpool and Dover
where we believe most of the bulk smuggling is done".

Yet officers on the ground continue to claim local knowledge gained by
permanently-based officers would give intelligence gatherers vital
information on local shipping movements - and save officers valuable time
in critical situations.