Almost 7,000 troops have been booted out of the Armed Forces for taking drugs over the last eight years
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.
Advertisement
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
"But there is no place for drug abuse in the Armed Forces.'
Advertisement
Read More on UK News
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.
Advertisement
Most read in The Sun
Exclusive
"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
1
Almost 7,000 troops have been booted out of the Armed Forces for taking drugs over the last eight years, figures show
Credit: Getty
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sunday World
2 hours ago
- Sunday World
Deirdre Reynolds: I believe my stalker had a 'rape or kill' list of women in Irish media
SPEAKING UP | Under cross examination, I was asked if being threatened with rape or murder was not just 'part and parcel' of my high-profile job. Typically penned in green, by an author appropriately mad as a box of frogs, over the course of almost two decades writing for national tabloid newspapers, it's fair to say I've had one or two – though none to rival the well-known travel writer who once received human faeces gift-wrapped in one of their articles, in a large brown envelope with address crazily scrawled in, what else, but green ink. Among fellow hacks, we laugh about this so-called 'fan mail', which now more typically comes in the form of emails or Facebook or Instagram DMs. August 14, 2023, was the day I stopped laughing. Mark McAnaw first addressed me as a 'proper little sort' whom he wanted to 'see in various styles of sexy underwear while wearing heels' and 'give a really, really, really good seeing to'. Amanda Brunker and Deirdre Reynolds Just days later, when I hadn't agreed to 'a f*cking basic thing like a normal phone call', so that he could 'get this on the go on a regular basis', the 53 year-old British man was promising to come to Dublin 'armed to the teeth' on a specific date to 'put a bullet in [my] f*cking nut'. On Thursday, the 'IRA Top Boy' and 'most powerful god there ever was', as he also referred to himself in the string of frightening mails that followed, was reduced to anything but, as he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for harassing me, Nicola Tallant and Amanda Brunker. Sitting in the back of Court 10 at the Criminal Courts of Justice, I couldn't help but eject a couple of quiet tears of relief, partly for myself, but also for every other woman out there who's ever faked a phone call to their sister while walking back to their car after dark or kept a tiny body spray in their handbag for more than just freshening up while out and about. As he stood up to whisper with his defence team, spruced up for the day that was in it in a freshly-ironed white shirt and navy bomber jacket, mostly though, I was thinking of the young foreign student, who was just 19 at the time he raped her at a house in Donegal in 2010, and how she had resisted so strongly that the radiator had been pulled from her bedroom wall; while selfishly glad he'll never get the chance to do the same to me as he'd schemed. Amid all the legalese, I didn't even realise that the schizophrenic, whose 30-plus year history of the most stomach-turning violence against women also includes kidnap, had just volunteered to spend an extra year locked up rather than seek medical help, among other bond conditions. Nicola Tallant When Judge Pauline Codd praised us for remaining 'calmly courageous' throughout the near two-year case, which began with me casually giving a statement to a detective in an office at work, I didn't have the heart to tell her how my knees had damn near buckled the first time I had to walk right past him to take the stand. Or how it had been pounding so furiously coming up to other court dates that it took an ECG, cardiac MRI, and several hundred euro to confirm that the tightly-wound knot in my chest was just the panic of breaking one of the golden rules of journalism, by becoming the story. 'I'm glad he's not on the streets', says victim as convicted rapist who threatened 3 female journalists is jailed' – announced just one of the many headlines about the case on Friday. Victim? Surely, they didn't mean me? But, surreally, they did, and as the 'Fair play, missus' messages from everyone from colleagues to cousins to old school friends started trickling in, I also didn't reply how if I'd known from the beginning that I'd wind up like the proverbial deer in headlights on RTÉ's Six-One News or Morning Ireland, I might simply have dragged McAnaw's messages into the trash folder, where they belonged, said nothing, and hoped for the best. Mark McAnaw was jailed for 11 years News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday June 10 The 'danger to [the] public', as Judge Codd called him on Thursday, didn't really give me that option, however, when he told me he had '30 girls on [his] list' – among them 'all the 2FM girls' – whom he would 'keep emailing' if I didn't 'start replying to [his] messages'. 'What happens to you lot now is firmly in your court,' he chillingly warned me. It was my strong belief then, and remains so now, that McAnaw, just like Englishman Gavin Plumb, who was jailed for plotting to kidnap and murder Holly Willoughby last year, has a fantasy 'rape or kill' list of women in Irish media. In speaking up, I can only cross my fingers that I haven't jumped straight to the top of it should he ever be free to torment us again. Under cross examination, I was asked if being threatened with rape or murder was not just 'part and parcel' of my high-profile job. Read more One last time with feeling: it's not. Nor should it be. Now imagine how the woman who mailed me in recent days to say how she'd been asked by a female Garda if she found her stalker 'attractive', or the countless rape survivors who've been quizzed about their underwear choices or alcohol consumption in a system more usually weighted in favour of perpetrators than victims must feel. Deemed 'untreatable' by a forensic psychiatrist, as well as being at 'highest risk' for re-offending, McAnaw has been ordered to stay at least 10 miles away from me for the rest of his life. As my heart rate slowly returns to normal, moreover, let's hope he never gets anywhere near any woman or girl ever again.
Sunday World
2 hours ago
- Sunday World
Terror chief ‘Harmless' Harry Stockman on brink of being kicked out of the UVF
Stockman's desperate attempt to save pal Irvine from the chop have backfired and he could be gone within a week The paramilitary leader is said to be staring down the barrel as restless members turn their sights on him after years of corruption and he is set to follow close associate Winston `Winkie' Irvine out the door. Stockman's desperate attempt to save pal Irvine from the chop have backfired and he could be gone within a week. A vote of no-confidence has been called and Stockman will find himself on the outside after years of lining his pockets on the back of the UVF name. His friend Irvine's fate was sealed at a secret Battalion meeting this week and brings to an end a long criminal career and a charmed existence. Irvine, long time commander of UVF B Company in the Woodvale, is a wealthy man, thanks in part to a string of publicly-funded jobs – but more directly as a result of his criminal activities including racketeering and drugs. According to sources, he was also responsible for ordering beatings and forcing people from their homes, all of which made him a hate figure. The British and Irish governments turned a blind eye to his activities in the hope he was the man who could deliver the UVF away from criminality. Now, members of the terror group believe he was the under the control of British security services. This week, the Sunday World can reveal the chain of events that led to Irvine's expulsion and the shake up at the top of the organisation in decades. Irvine is said to be stunned at his expulsion, believing the leadership of Stockman and chief of staff John `Bunter' Graham had his back. But Graham saw the writing on the wall during a meeting of 1st Battalion UVF, attended by Brigade staff, company commanders, and senior members. They demanded Winkie's head and Bunter granted them their wish. With Irvine gone and Stockman likely to follow him out the door it raises fresh questions about the future of Graham himself. After more than four decades as chief of staff he now appears isolated. His ailing health could see him stepping down. Stockman would have been seen as his natural successor but with his fate all but sealed, the smart money is on Shankill commander Sam Austin, according to source. Allegedly the leader of the unit, he is a popular figure and is believed to have been one of the loudest calling for Irvine and Stockman to be expelled. The son of legendary UVF commander, the late Sam 'Pinky' Austin, he is seen as a safe pair of hands and is anti-drugs. He is vehemently anti-drugs having lost his son Dan to an accidental overdose in 2018. Graham had come under pressure in recent weeks to replace Stockman as second in command with Austin but may now step aside completely. Irvine now hasn't a friend in he world. His demise has been a long time coming but was inevitable the moment his MI5 handlers dropped him in 2022, sources believe. That came in the wake of a hoax bomb attack carried out by his UVF B Company and was aimed at then Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney who was attending a cross community peace building event in north Belfast hosted by the John Hume Foundation. Not only did his security service masters not know about it neither did Graham who insisted it had not been sanctioned. Irvine initially tried to dodge the blame claiming it had nothing to do with him and in a meeting with Irish government representative tried to pass the buck to East Belfast UVF and Mid-Ulster UVF. East Belfast at the time was at loggerheads with the Shankill leadership. Stockman went behind Graham's back telling senior figures that he had lost control of rogue elements within the organisation. Betraying Graham was a fatal mistake but even as the net was closing in Stockman tried fiercely for his friend even as details of Irvine's connections with intelligence services and the PSNI emerged during his court appearance and conviction for gun running. Anger remains over the sentence handed down to his co-accused Robin Workman who was ordered to transport a cache of weapons to Irvine. The guns were found in the boot of Irvine's car after the pair were intercepted in June 2022. Workman got five years while Irvine got 30 months and will likely to be out within a year. There is also suspicion around the delay in sentencing the pair and that Irvine's light sentence was influenced by the intelligence services. Last week we revealed that Graham had ordered Irvine was to be left alone to serve his sentence. But without the cover of UVF membership he is vulnerable, particularly as he is sharing a wing with the five people convicted of the murder of Ian Ogle, none of whom have any allegiance to the UVF. Others include Gary Taylor and Nigel Brown serving life for the 2005 murder of schoolboy Thomas Devlin in 2005 both of whom have been stood down and have come under threat from the UVF behind bars. Another is Stephen Brown doing 30 years for the double murders of teenagers Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine in Tandragee in 2000. Attention will now turn to Stockman, a divisive figure. A former shop steward in Shorts he rose to the top of the UVF following the Good Friday Agreement. He was lucky to survive when UVF man Dee Madine stabbed him 10 times in 2011. UVF sources have told the Sunday World a battalion meeting will take place shortly when Stockman's fate will be sealed. Harry Stockman News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday June 10
The Irish Sun
5 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Brit mum-of-three facing death penalty in Bali over £300k cocaine found in ‘Angel Delight' bags insists she was FRAMED
A BRIT facing the death penalty accused of trafficking more than £300,000 worth of cocaine into Bali, today told a court: "I was framed." Lisa Stocker, 39, told Denpasar central court that she was Advertisement 5 All three defendants could face death by firing squad if they are found guilty Credit: Supplied 5 They appeared in court today Credit: Supplied 5 The trial continues on June 17 Credit: Supplied "The Stocker, a mum-of-three, and her partner, Jon Collyer, 39, both from East Sussex, were arrested at Bali's international airport on February 1. They had travelled from the UK through Qatar and were arrested in Bali after a routine x-ray at the airport alerted officials to the The couple appeared in court with Phineas Float, 31, also of East Sussex, who is accused of receiving the packages in an airport hotel on February 3. Advertisement read more in world news Float was arrested following a All Stocker said that she had been given the 17 packets of Angel Delight by a third man who she claimed was a friend in the UK and who instructed her to take the Angel Delight packets 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. Advertisement Most read in The Sun In his statement to the court, Jon Collyer said that he had not received any payment and that he paid for the trip to Bali himself. "[He] Brit 'drug mule' Charlotte May Lee pictured in new mugshot along with huge £1.2m drug haul "[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. Advertisement However, police prosecutor Made Umbara alleges the man gave Collyer £2,130 Float laughed in front of the media when the three were paraded at a press conference in February. While walking to the court room last week for the first day of his trial he yelled at journalist to "f**k off". Why are Brits targeted as drug mules? Growing numbers of Brits are being targeted by drug gangs to smuggle their wares around the world, authorities have claimed. The high profile cases of Brits Bella Culley and Charlotte May Lee - who are being held on drug charges in Georgia and Sri Lanka respectively - have put a spotlight on the issue. Gangs based in Thailand are reportedly luring potential mules with the promise of big payouts and lavish travel breaks in return for carrying drugs back with them. Cannabis is decriminalised in Thailand, which has seen it become so cheap there that gangs have sought to export it at vast profit. One reason cited by authorities for the targeting of Brits specifically is that tourists from the UK have visa free access to Thailand. British and Thai police launched a joint operation last July that laid bare the scale of the gang recruitment drive. Some 800 people, including 50 Brits, have been held in Thailand since then for alleged drug smuggling. But today he was unusually reserved in court. Advertisement "I took the packages from Jonathan and Lisa after getting a message from [him]. "I wanted to help a friend and did not know it was cocaine, "he told the court. He said that he was shocked that Lisa was involved in any alleged The trial continues on June 17. Advertisement It comes amid several other high profile cases of Brits being charged and detained in other countries for alleged drug smuggling. Bella May Culley, 18, But she was Elsewhere, 21-year-old Advertisement Both Brits face lengthy prison sentences if found guilty. 5 Stocker and her partner, Jon Collyer were arrested at Bali's international airport Credit: EPA 5 The couple appeared in court with Phineas Float Credit: EPA
