Drug offences recorded by police jump 18 per cent in a year, including massive surge in trafficking

Drug crimes recorded by police have risen by almost a fifth a year to more than 230,000, new data shows.

There is an 18 per cent annual increase in total drug offenses recorded in England and Wales by 2025, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The total of 230,783 was the highest recorded since 2011.

This was a 26 per cent increase in the number of registered drug trafficking offenses to just under 76,000 – the highest number on record.

Sexual offenses recorded by police across other types of crime rose to a record high of 215,180 in the year, up five per cent on 2024.

The continued rise in crimes has been attributed to improved recording practices by police forces and a growing willingness among victims to come forward.

Robbery reached a five-year high, with 84,666 recorded crimes.

Recorded theft crimes fell by one per cent to 509,566 incidents, after rising significantly each year since the Covid pandemic.

However, retailers insisted that the shoplifting crime wave is not over yet and explained how shopkeepers have given up reporting every incident to the police.

Lucy Whing, of the British Retail Consortium, said: ‘Retail theft is a significant challenge for retailers; Our own figures show 5.5 million thefts detected last year.

‘Whilst the ONS figures likely underestimate the problem as they only cover reported incidents, they are consistent with our own data showing high levels of shoplifting in recent years.

‘The reasons for this are varied, but the rise in organized crime is particularly worrying as gangs systematically target store after store across the country.’

He added: ‘Fortunately, there are some signs of progress with the government and police taking steps to tackle retail crime through the Crime and Policing Bill, which will remove the £200 threshold for so-called “low-level” shoplifting and reinforce that all forms of shoplifting are unacceptable.

‘This will also create a specific offense for assaulting retail workers, leading to tougher penalties and better recognition of the problem and allowing police to allocate appropriate resources.

‘It is vital that the police take full advantage of this new legislation so that we can reduce these figures once and for all.’

ONS figures showed total violent crime remained steady at 1.96 million recorded incidents.

There were 503 homicides (murder and manslaughter), a decrease of 6 percent from 534 homicides in the previous 12 months.

Total recorded crime, excluding fraud and computer crime, fell by 2 per cent to 5.24 million, the ONS said.

Separately, the Crime Survey for England and Wales, based on thousands of interviews with the public and designed to cover crimes not reported to the police, showed levels remained stable at 9.6 million incidents.

Additional data published by the Home Office showed that only 8.2 per cent (or one in 12) of crimes reported to the police resulted in the offender being brought to court.

For sexual crimes, the figure was only 4.6 percent; This includes 3.4 percent of reported rapes.

The rate for robbery was 9.6 percent and for theft crime was 8.5 percent.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Shop shoplifting is up 8 per cent since the election; It became the defining symbol of Labour’s breakdown in law and order.

‘It’s a crime so routine, so fruitless, that store employees face more risk when confronted by a thief than the thief does from the police.

‘The continued rise in sexual offences, rape and stalking is truly shameful.

‘Labour promised to halve violence against women and girls, but that promise has failed.’

He added: ‘Less than one in 12 crimes are solved. The odds are definitely on the criminal’s side under this government.

‘Labour’s response was to reduce police numbers by over 1,300, allow early release of 50,000 criminals and legislate to abolish prison sentences of less than one year; so almost no shoplifters will go to jail.

‘The Tories will reverse this. Our Reclaim Our Streets plan puts 10,000 extra officers on the streets, triples stop and search and introduces facial recognition in the worst crime hotspots.

‘We will make the consequences of crime real again, because under Labor it is not like that.’

Crime and Policing Minister Sarah Jones said: ‘We are eliminating crime that harms communities and has previously gone unpunished.

‘Violent crime continues to fall. Knife-related murders have fallen by 27 per cent since the start of this Parliament – the lowest level in a decade – and murders overall fell by six per cent last year – the lowest level in almost 50 years.

‘The direction we are going is clear. ‘We will continue to build on this progress and will not stop until every community feels a change.’

He added: ‘Shop and phone theft rates are unacceptably high.

‘But these figures show that our swift and decisive action has turned the situation around: shoplifting is down on last year.

‘We are scrapping the so-called £200 ‘license to steal’. The number of thieves facing justice under this government continues to rise, with charges rising by 17 per cent in just one year.

‘In less than a year we have appointed more than 3,000 extra officers to neighborhood duties, dedicated to tackling local crime in the local community.

‘Our police reforms will deliver lasting change. ‘A new National Police Service will tackle crime across the country and across borders, meaning local forces will be better focused on policing their areas and protecting communities.’