Almost 7,000 troops have been booted out of the Armed Forces for taking drugs over the last eight years
Infantry regiment The Rifles has one of the worst records, with at least 151 failing compulsory drugs tests between 2017 and 2025
MARCHING ORDERS Almost 7,000 troops have been booted out of the Armed Forces for taking drugs over the last eight years
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
ALMOST 7,000 troops have been booted out of the Armed Forces for taking drugs over the last eight years, figures show.
The Army alone is sacking about 500 soldiers — the size of a battalion — every year.
Sign up for Scottish Sun
newsletter
Sign up
Infantry regiment The Rifles has one of the worst records, with at least 151 failing compulsory drugs tests between 2017 and 2025.
Ministry of Defence figures showed cocaine was by far the most popular drug used, followed by cannabis and ecstasy.
Former commander Colonel Richard Kemp said: 'Most who take illegal drugs do so on leave outside the military environment, often under pressure from mates back home.
"But there is no place for drug abuse in the Armed Forces.'
The MoD said tests ensured 'maximum deterrence.'
An MoD spokesperson: 'Substance abuse is unacceptable in the Armed Forces and we have run the Armed Forces Compulsory Drug Testing (AFCDT) Programme since January 1995.
'We robustly enforce a zero tolerance policy to drug use by all those who serve and provide an education programme to inform all personnel of the dangers and consequences of substance misuse.
'We maintain a comprehensive programme of compulsory random drug testing to ensure maximum deterrence.
"Anyone found to have misused drugs faces severe consequences, including discharge from service.'
British soldier appears to snort suspicious white substance in video published to social media
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
39 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Scot held captive by Saddam Hussein hopes new documentary will help fight for justice
Air steward Charlie Kristiansson was one of 385 passengers and crew taken hostage when BA Flight 149 was sent into a war zone. A Scot held captive by Saddam Hussein after a BA flight was sent into a war zone hopes a new documentary will help in his long fight for justice. Air steward Charlie Kristiansson was one of 385 passengers and crew taken hostage when BA Flight 149 was allowed to make a refuelling stop in Kuwait – despite British authorities knowing the Iraqi invasion was under way. The terrified hostages, including 11 children, were deployed by Saddam as 'human shields' at military sites and were subjected to starvation, beatings and sexual assault by their Iraqi captors. A class legal action by the hostages accuses the UK Government and British Airways of 'deliberately endangering them', alleging the flight was being used to deliver a covert British intelligence-gathering team. Charlie, of Uddingston, Lanarkshire, said he hopes Sky documentary Flight 149: Hostage of War will pile pressure on authorities to tell the truth after a 35-year-long 'cover-up'. He said: 'The documentary is just another step in our harrowing journey. That flight was a Trojan horse. I want the Government and BA dragged into the courts and forced to tell the truth. 'The suffering was unbearable and it was all avoidable. We were betrayed by the Government and I will never forgive them. I am furious.' Charlie said his 132 days in captivity left him so broken that at times he prayed for death to free him. He was raped and beaten, and became so ill and emaciated he feared he would eventually 'just fade away'. The 28-year-old was on the London to Malaysia flight tending passengers and preparing the plane on the ground when Iraqi jets began bombing Kuwait International Airport on August 2, 1990. Explosions shredded the runway and there was a stampede as crew shepherded passengers off the plane and on to buses, driven by evacuating Kuwaiti ground staff. The Iraqi military rounded up foreigners and they were taken to the Kuwaiti City's Regency Palace Hotel to be 'guests of Iraq'. As they were being bussed to the Regency, Charlie witnessed the destruction of Kuwait laid bare, the bodies of the murdered were abandoned amid the bombed out cars and buildings. One passenger saw a pregnant Kuwaiti woman being bayoneted. Despite the horrors they witnessed, the passengers and crew believed the British Government and BA would save them. But Charlie said: 'They offered us no help at all. We soon realised we were on our own.' Charlie, seven other men and four BA stewardesses were taken to Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait City, where they were thrown into an abandoned bungalow which was covered in excrement and infested with flies. At the bungalow, the hostages were terrorised by Iraqi soldiers and told they'd be shot if they tried to escape. Charlie, who was 6ft 5in, saw his weight plummet to only 6.5 stones. At one point, a guard agreed to source food but dropped off the leg of a giraffe which had been shot at the zoo. Charlie refused to eat it but others did. When he got severe toothache, an Iraqi officer offered to take him to a dentist but he drove him to an abandoned tower and raped him at gunpoint. In the November, he was wrenched from the group and taken to Baghdad, and billeted in a missile base alongside six captured Scottish airforce pilots who were regularly tortured. But at the base, Charlie was visited by a kind Iraqi doctor who persuaded the guards to let him be taken to hospital. There, he allowed Charlie to call his mum back home in Scotland. He said: 'It was like she was in the world of the living and I was trapped in hell with the dead. I felt I would never see her again.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. After five months in captivity, the hostages were freed in the December. Charlie left BA after 13 years as more information emerged about the disregard authorities had shown to Flight 149. He now lives in Luxembourg, where he teaches English. It was 4.13am, Kuwaiti time when BA Flight 149 had touched down on August 2. Yet more than an hour earlier, then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher had been told Saddam had invaded. It was only in November 2021 the Foreign Office finally admitted the Government had been warned with plenty of time to divert the flight. It denied a covert intelligence team was on board or that BA was warned not to land. In the documentary, Tony Paice, head of MI6 in Kuwait, alleged he had warned a senior staff member from BA. Numerous passengers said they saw a mysterious group of 10 men, believed to be the covert operatives, get on but their existence continues to be denied. British Airways said government records in 2021 confirmed the airline was not warned. Flight 149: Hostage of War is on Sky Documentaries from Wednesday, June 11.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Brit facing death penalty over Angel Delight cocaine haul insists she was framed
Lisa Stocker, 39, is currently on trial at Denpasar central court where she told a jury she had been "framed" after cops arrested her and her partner at the airport entering Bali A British mum facing the death penalty in Bali after she was accused of trafficking cocaine worth more than £300,000 disguised as pudding mix claims she was framed. Lisa Stocker, 39, is currently on trial at Denpasar central court where she yesterday told a jury she had been fitted up after cops arrested her and her partner at the airport. "The packages were not mine, but someone else's," she said. "I was framed." The mum-of-three entered Bali and was found with 992 grams of cocaine stashed inside packets of Angel Delight in her luggage. Stoker and her partner Jon Collyer, 39, both from East Sussex, were arrested after cops swooped at Bali's international airport on February 1. A routine X-ray at the airport alerted officials to the suspicious packages as the couple arrived in Bali after travelling from the UK through Qatar. A third Brit, Phineas Float, 31, also of East Sussex, appeared alongside the couple in court - Float is accused of receiving the packages in an airport hotel on February 3. Cops reportedly used Stoker and Collyer as part of a sting operation to lure Float, leading to his arrest on drugs charges as well. If found guilty of trafficking the substance all three defendants could face death by firing squad under the harsh laws of the country. Stocker said a friend in the UK had given her the 17 packets of Angel Delight dessert mix and instructed her to take them to Bali. "Jon and I had been to Bali twice carrying packages from [him]. I was shocked after finding out it was cocaine," she said. Jon Collyer told the court that he had not received any payment, adding that he paid for the trip to Bali himself. "[He] gave me some goods to be handed over to his friend in Bali. [He] told me the package contained snacks, such as chocolate, pudding and chips. [He] said that someone would pick up the package when I arrived in Bali," Collyer said. However police prosecutor Made Umbara said that the friend in fact gave Collyer £2,130 to pay for the couple's accommodation and flights from the UK to Bali. During a press conference in February where the three were paraded in front of the cameras, Float was seen to laugh. He also yelled at journalist to "f**k off" while walking to the court room for the first day of his trial last week. He was reserved in court today, however. "I took the packages from Jonathan and Lisa after getting a message from [him],' he said. "I wanted to help a friend and did not know it was cocaine.' He said Lisa "chose to live a healthy life,' adding he was shocked that she was involved in any alleged trafficking plot. The trial is scheduled to continue on June 17.
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Brits among 9,000 migrants to be sent to Guantanamo in Trump plan to make notorious terror prison a vast detention site
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BRITS are among the 9,000 migrants set to be sent to the infamous Guantanamo Bay in President Donald Trump's plan to make its notorious terror prison a detention site. The first transfers are set to begin within a matter of days as the Trump administration dramatically ramps up its vast crackdown on illegal immigration. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 10 President Donald Trump plans to make Guantanamo's notorious terror prison a detention site Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 10 The first plane of detained migrants arriving at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay on February 4 Credit: AFP 10 Trump said he planned to detain 'criminal illegal aliens' at the notorious Guantanamo Bay military prison Credit: AFP 10 At the start of the year, the US President announced his plans to send up to 30,000 illegal immigrants to detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters at the time that 'the White House is currently working on [using] resources we currently have in Guantanamo Bay' to increase the number of beds for 'the worst of the worst.' 'We're already doing it,' Noem said. 'We're building it out.' The notorious Cuban camp was previously used as a military prison for those captured during George W Bush's "war on terror" after the heinous 9/11 attacks. read more news ELON SECOND THOUGHT Musk says he 'REGRETS' some of his bitter attacks on Trump after X row This week alone, at least 9,000 people are being identified for a potential transfer to the prison as early as Wednesday, according to documents seen by Politico. Roughly a whopping 800 Europeans are on the list of potential Guantanamo detainees - including British and French citizens, the Washington Post reports. Currently roughly 500 migrants have been held at the jail dubbed "Gitmo" for short periods of time in the past few months. According to the Trump administration, it works as a pit stop on the way to being deported to the country those being held came from. The bombshell move represents the administration's further toughening on immigration policy. Critics say the Guantanamo threat works to deter new illegal immigrants from entering the US whilst also encouraging those already in the country to self-deport. The Sun visits Guantanamo Bay One State Department official told Politico: "The message is to shock and horrify people, to upset people - but we're allies." But the deportation plans don't come without legal challenges. A court in Washington is considering a plea to outlaw the use of Guantanamo to house migrants as the American Civil Liberties Union claims they are being held in horrific conditions. Detainees are apparently kept in a rat-infested camp, served inadequate food and denied the weekly change of clothing. Detainees once endured sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and extreme temperature exposure as part of the CIA's 'enhanced interrogation' program. One of the most infamous detainees, Abu Zubaydah, was waterboarded 83 times and kept in a coffin-sized box for hours on end. While the camp once held nearly 800 suspected terrorists, that number has dwindled to just 15, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks. The last remaining detainees exist in a legal limbo, held indefinitely as the US struggles to either prosecute, transfer, or release them. 10 U.S. Navy sailors and Coast Guardsmen erect expeditionary shelter tents Credit: via REUTERS 10 Trump's border czar Tom Homan said the administration would expand the capacity of the hellhole facility as the military planned to put up temporary tents Credit: Reuters 10 The first USmilitary aircraft to carry detained migrants to a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Credit: Reuters The ACLU accused the Trump administration of using Guantanamo "to frighten immigrants, deter future migration, induce self-deportation, and coerce people in detention to give up claims against removal and accept deportation elsewhere". The US Justice Department vehemently denied the claim, telling the court that Guantanamo is solely used as a temporary stop. Nine Brit citizens were previously held in Guantanamo in 2004, of which five were repatriated. And nine more people who had residency status in the UK but not citizenship were also held at the camp. Trump's border czar Tom Homan previously said the administration would expand the capacity of the hellhole facility. He said: "We're just going to expand upon that existing migrant center." Meanwhile Noem shared images of migrants arriving at the Guantanamo facility. She wrote on social media: "President Donald Trump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. "That starts today." The prison has cost US taxpayers over $6 billion to operate, with an annual budget of $540 million — roughly $13 million per prisoner. A dedicated medical wing, staffed by doctors, psychiatrists, and even dentists, exists to prevent detainees from dying in custody, ensuring they remain locked away indefinitely. What is Guantanamo Bay? By Juliana Cruz Lima, Foreign News Reporter GUANTANAMO Bay has long been synonymous with human rights abuses, indefinite detention, and controversial interrogation techniques. First opened in 2002 by George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11, the high-security facility became a legal black hole. There, suspects could be held without trial, subjected to brutal conditions, and interrogated using 'enhanced techniques'—a euphemism for torture. The prison complex, located on Cuban soil but under US control, is a fortress of isolation. Guard towers loom over the razor-wire fences, motion-activated searchlights sweep the perimeter, and cameras monitor every inch of the facility. Inside, detainees — most clad in orange jumpsuits — have spent decades in concrete cells measuring just 6.8 square feet, often with nothing but a thin mattress, a metal toilet, and a small slit for daylight. Prisoners have been force-fed through nasal tubes during hunger strikes, shackled in stress positions for hours, and subjected to psychological torment. Detainees once endured sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and extreme temperature exposure as part of the CIA's 'enhanced interrogation' program. Prisoners are separated into camps based on their perceived threat level. The most notorious detainees are housed in Camp 5 and Camp 7, which are maximum-security units where prisoners are kept in near-total isolation. Others are held in Camp 6, where detainees live communally but are still closely monitored. Camp X-Ray, the original makeshift site of the prison, was shuttered years ago, but its haunting images of hooded detainees kneeling behind barbed wire remain a symbol of Guantanamo's dark legacy. 10 US Marines heading to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay Credit: Reuters 10 US Army soldier walking at unused common detainee space in 'Camp 6' detention facility at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay Credit: AFP
