JEP EXCLUSIVE

SOCIAL media apps being used by teenagers to order drugs are not outside the law and users face the very real risk of being caught and prosecuted, the head of Jersey’s Drugs Squad has said.

An investigation by the JEP has this week found that children as young as 15 are exploiting a secret network of social-media channels and online messaging apps to order drugs – including cocaine and ecstasy – through the post.

Until about six years ago, the value of drugs seized at Jersey Post’s headquarters was often less than £60,000 per year, but is now always above £100,000 – and two years ago stood at £411,000.

On average, Customs officers seize about £5,000-worth of drugs sent through the post each week.

Detective Sergeant Jim McGranahan, who leads the States police’s Drugs Squad, said the force was acutely aware that Islanders were ordering drugs online – and warned that they would not escape the law.

‘Using certain apps on your phone, most people think that law enforcement don’t get to see any of it – but that’s where they are wrong,’ he said.

‘Social media and certain app platforms such as Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram etc are not impenetrable but take us as law enforcement longer to investigate – that’s the difficulty.’ One teenager, who spoke to the JEP on the grounds that she remained anonymous, said she and her friends regularly used social-media messaging applications such as Snapchat to order cannabis.

DS McGranahan continued: ‘They [the people ordering drugs] have got to be brave and they’ve got to be stupid because they know if they get caught [they will be arrested].

‘The unfortunate thing for a lot of these people, whatever they order, is that if they get arrested we are potentially taking their phone, PlayStation, iPad, laptop, every electronic device out of their house – and definitely off them.’

He added: ‘They are potentially never getting that back and when you are losing a £1,200 mobile telephone – because if it’s involved in drug-related activity we ask that the court destroys it – that’s a massive sanction to a lot of kids.’ He explained there was also a misconception that the use of online banking applications was a way of hiding drug deals from law-enforcement investigations.

‘It is stupid because whatever online bank you use, it has a paper trail. Unless you have an account in Central America or Dubai or something then we will see your bank transfers and your movements.’ Commenting on whether it was primarily teenagers using social media to order drugs, DS McGranahan said: ‘People used to go outside and play, socialise in the street, kick a football and go to the park.

Kids these days, generally, sit on their devices and talk to each other.

‘They will use their Snapchats and their Telegrams to chat to each other, but also to order drugs. I wouldn’t say all teenagers are on social media ordering drugs for themselves, there is still only a minority – as there always has been historically – who are the ones ordering the drugs.’ Mark Cockerham, head of the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service, said: ‘It is estimated that 60% of the global population use social media as a primary source of information. Therefore, naturally those responsible for the supply of drugs have turned to social-media platforms to advertise, market and co-ordinate the sale and shipment of drugs though the postal system.

‘We have encountered cases where ‘ people have ordered drugs to Jersey in this way and the use of false names is, of course, common practice.’ DS McGranahan said: ‘Ten years ago you would have been caught, without a doubt. But nowadays, people communicate on iPads, on their PlayStations, their Xbox, everybody’s always going to be a step ahead, if not streets ahead, of law enforcement in that respect.’ However, he stressed that the force had a ‘high-tech investigations team’ and was capable of adapting to the latest trends.

‘We will go in and look at people’s profiles [and for] any drug-related activity,’ he added.

‘ The unfortunate thing for a lot of these people, whatever they order, is that if they get arrested we are potentially taking their phone, PlayStation, iPad, laptop, every electronic device out of their house – and definitely off them... They are potentially never getting that back

Detective Sergeant Jim McGranahan

Customs’ drug seizures over the past five years

Value of drug seizures by year/how much was seized in the post:

•2017 £3.0 million/£55,500

•2018 £2.3 million/£590,100

•2019 £12.5 million/£325,000

•2020 £0.5 million/£187,741

•2021 £0.7 million/£411,000

•2022 £0.7 million/£163,071