£10,000 a week trade of drug dealers

Drug dealers can progress from small-time sales in nightclubs to making £10,000 a week selling hardcore substances in less than two months, according to a study co-written by a London professor.

Geoffrey Pearson, Professor of Criminology at Goldsmiths College, co-wrote the report for the Home Office, and says it shows Britain's club scene to be a fertile ground for money-making.

He told The Times: "Most surprising to me is how quickly people can build up quite substantial and very profitable businesses."

Prof Pearson's report divides the market into importers, wholesalers, middle-market brokers and retail dealers, and shows how it is possible to go from doing small deals to making several thousand pounds a week as a middle-man in around six weeks.

A successful dealer would have his own network of retailers, selling as many as 3,000 ecstasy tablets a week, as well as a pound of amphetamines, several ounces of cocaine and an amount of cannabis.

The report also says the club scene drug market, where best-sellers are "dance drugs" such as ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine, can be a backdrop to violence.

Kidnappings with the use of other people's four-wheel-drive cars are commonly used in disputes over deals, and rarely reported to the police.

One of the best ways for drugs dealers to make big profits is by selling cocaine, bulk shipments of which are brought to the UK through Dutch and Belgian warehouses by networks of Colombian dealers based in London. Sold in Colombia for £2,000 a kilo (2.2lbs), the drug's value soars to as much as £30,000 a kilo, if bought in bulk, by the time it is sold in Britain.

A middle-market dealer here might pay around £20,000 for a kilo and then sell it to smaller traders for £1,000 an ounce.

Not all the cocaine sold here comes from Colombia; smaller amounts are brought over by individuals from the West Indies.

According to the study, a Jamaican team in London might buy cocaine at £12,000 per kilo and then sell it at up to £20,000 to a middle-market dealer. It could then fetch up to £1,760 per ounce on the street.

Heroin comes from Afghanistan through Turkish networks based here. Bought in bulk for as little as £600 per kilo, it can retail on the street for £80 a gram, after it has been mixed or "cut" with cheaper agents.

Ecstasy tablets, which became popular with clubbers in the late Eighties, are bought in bulk from the Netherlands at 50p per tablet. It is sold to a dealer at £5 per pill, and then sold on to clubbers for between £7.50 and £15, or more.

Amphetamines come from mainland Europe or are made in Britain, at a cost of around £2,000 per kilo, and then sold on to customers for up to £20 per gram. Cannabis, meanwhile, is sold to dealers at around £1,250-£1,500 a kilo, and sold on the street at £83 an ounce.