Passports to be seized from middle class cocaine users in bid to 'smash' drug gangs

5 December 2021, 14:09 | Updated: 4 January 2022, 12:33

Boris Johnson is set to launch a 10-year plan to clamp down on drug-related crime, which will include confiscating passports and driving licences from drug takers.

The crackdown will reportedly include football-style travel bans, as well as harsher sentences for dealers and tougher measures on County Lines gangs.

There will also be record funding for drug rehabilitation services, the Sun reported.

It comes as drug misuse poisoning deaths are at a record high and have increased by nearly 80% since 2012.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told LBC the government plans to "smash the economic model of the drug dealers".

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He emphasised that drug dealers rely on all clientele, and the "odd middle-class line of cocaine" must be tackled as well as helping habitual users.

Mr Raab said: "We know the amount of crime reoffending that is linked to drugs.

"We want to smash the gangs, we also want to encourage and require offenders to get clean of drugs, which is the best way for them to get straight."

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In July, the government announced a new unit to tackle drug related illness after the second phase of Dame Carol Black's Independent Review of Drugs was released.

The first phase, published in February, found there were around one million people using cocaine in England every year.

The review has also valued the UK illegal drugs market at £9.4 billion.

PM Boris Johnson is expected to announce millions of pounds in funding for the police to tackle drug gangs.