PARENTS are becoming a major weapon in the battle against drugs, with more and more being prepared to inform on their children, it has been revealed.

For the first time today, Customs officers talk about the role of informants in their undercover work. Known in the trade as ‘covert human intelligence sources’, the informants are paid and come from all walks of life. But most significant of all, parents are increasingly going to the police to try to help their children come off drugs. They are also informing on the people selling the illegal substances to their sons and daughters.

Customs stressed that the identities of informants were never revealed and that many did it out of a sense of civic responsibility and did not take any money. Mark Cockerham, assistant director of investigations at Customs and Immigration, spoke candidly about the work of his officers. He said that worried parents of drug users were an essential weapon in helping to get drugs off the streets in Jersey.

‘It is quite surprising, as you tend to conjure up an image of someone in a raincoat passing on information, but there is quite a wide range of people who are informants,’ he said.

• Full interview in today’s Jersey Evening Post

• Picture: A customs sniffer dog searches for suspect parcels at the Post Office