Candles, paint tins and Milk Tray boxes – how drugs are sent to Shetland
DRUGS are being sent to Shetland hidden in everything from candles to paint tins, police have said.
Area commander Chris Sewell said suppliers were constantly trying new ways to get drugs up to the isles and beyond sniffer dogs.
But he said that whatever method they tried, “ultimately we end up recovering” the substances.
Sewell was speaking following a number of high-profile drug convictions, including a Muirhead man who was jailed at Aberdeen High Court last month.
He had been caught trying to take £125,000 worth of cocaine and heroin in to Shetland through the Holmsgarth ferry terminal in Lerwick in November 2024.
Three young people from England were also spared jail at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday after being described as “little cogs” in a bigger enterprise.
The trio were caught taking cocaine in to Shetland, again through the Holmsgarth ferry terminal, in November last year.
Asked if intelligence or the good work of charity Dogs Against Drugs was responsible for these arrests, Sewell said it was often a “bit of both”.
“A lot of it is just through really good police intelligence work,” he told Shetland News on Tuesday.
“They [Police Scotland] will share info with us if they become aware of someone travelling who is likely to be carrying drugs. That often yields results, as we’ve seen.”
But he said the local work of Dogs Against Drugs could not be understated as well.
Drug suppliers were trying “loads of novel ways” to disguise drugs when they were sent up to Shetland he said.
“There were drugs in a Milk Tray box, with chocolates in part of it and heroin in the other,” Sewell said.
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“We’ve had drugs inside candles, drugs disposed in paint tins with the paint still in with the hope that the smell would disguise the scent of the drugs.
“It doesn’t – the dogs were still able to find them.
“There’s loads of different ways that folk have tried to bring drugs in, but ultimately we end up recovering them,” Sewell said.
He admitted that he was surprised at just how good the dogs were at detecting some of these concealed packages.
“You think about drugs wrapped up inside a gloss paint tin. You would think there’s such a strong smell they wouldn’t be able to get it.
“So that is really, really good. They can detect the tiniest amounts.”
Sewell said police in Shetland and Dogs Against Drugs communicated with national police about new methods suppliers were using concealing drugs.
“There’s learning across the UK of how drugs are imported into the country and how drugs dogs are detecting them,” he said.
“There’s different learning that comes from that wider national network.”
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