A rash of gang wars will break out when lockdown is lifted as cheap drugs flood the market, police fear.
A backlog of Class As is set to flood the market as freedom of movement returns, sending street prices tumbling.
Police are braced for a breakout of turf wars as pushers seek to control drug markets across the UK.
The alert was sounded by “Britain’s FBI”, the National Crime Agency.
Boss Steve Rodhouse told the Sunday Mirror: “When lockdown is eased we’ll see a lot of organised crime groups trying to bring drugs into the country, potentially as a commodity that’s backed up in the supply chain.
That has potential to cause a reduction in price and maybe a competition between groups. We’ve got well-developed plans to tackle that.”
The restrictions have made the international movement of drugs more difficult. But yesterday police revealed they had charged three men and found cocaine with a street value of about £3million in a lorry at Dover.
The NCA and Border Force officers discovered 36kg of the drug inside what is believed to be a purpose-built hide in the truck coming from France.
It follows the seizure of £19million of cocaine in two lorries carrying toys and paper that arrived at Dover on Monday.
Mr Rodhouse also revealed the NCA is working to halt a boom in human trafficking into the UK as the lockdown closes all entry points into the UK. He told of a surge in desperate refugees being forced aboard tiny dinghies to make the dangerous Channel crossing.
He added: “Some of the facilitators in France are really unscrupulous, but it’s a really dangerous route. We’re seeing an upsurge in that.”
The NCA has also identified over 1,000 online predators seeking to target children during the lockdown.
It has executed eight warrants against high-risk child sex offenders, making five arrests. Mr Rodhouse said: “We’re making arrests every day.”
He also warned that online fraudsters were “flourishing” by exploiting the virus to sell dodgy PPE and fake testing kits, and setting up internet scams.
