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Shock at drugs find in Alnwick pubs

May 23 2010 Sunday Sun

SECRET tests on pubs in an upmarket area of Northumberland have revealed three quarters are being used by customers taking cocaine.

Police and council officials, who visited pubs without warning, found traces of the deadly drug in 24 of the 33 licensed premises in and around Alnwick.

The tests are expected to cause concern among the 32,000 residents in the town, voted the best place to live in Britain by readers of Country Life magazine in 2002.

Swab tests on toilet seats also revealed the majority checked in other Northumberland towns were being used for taking cocaine.

However, Northumbria Police have been accused of downplaying the problem after initially declining to reveal the full extent of it.

In a press release on Operation Achilles issued in March, the force warned about “dangerous chemicals” being found in bars – without giving the figures or saying the drug involved was cocaine, and a senior was quoted as saying drug-taking and drug-related crime was “not a major issue” in the county.

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