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

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 10:09, 23 April 2026 | Updated: 10:14, 23 April 2026 Drugs offences recorded by the police have soared by nearly a fifth to more than 230,000 in a year, new data shows. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there was an 18 per cent year-on-year leap in total recorded drug crime in England and Wales in 2025. The 230,783 total was the highest recorded since 2011. It included a 26 per cent increase in the number of recorded drug trafficking offences, hitting just under 76,000 – the highest on record. In other types of crime, sex offences recorded by the police climbed to a record level of 215,180 in the year, up five per cent on 2024. Robbery hit the highest level for five years with 84,666 recorded offences. Recorded shoplifting offences dipped by one per cent to 509,566 incidents after climbing significantly every year since the Covid pandemic. Drug offences rocketed by 18 per cent last year. Pictured: a man smokes a cannabis joint Retailers have insisted the shoplifting crimewave is far from over, however, describing how shopkeepers have given up reporting every incident to police. Lucy Whing of the British Retail Consortium said: 'Retail theft is a significant challenge for retailers, with our own figures showing 5.5million detected incidents of theft last year. Shoplifting dipped by one per cent after years of soaring figures, according to recorded crime data issued by the Office for National Statistics. Picture posed by model. 'While ONS figures likely underestimate the issue, as it only captures reported incidents, it aligns with our own data showing high levels of shoplifting in recent years. 'The causes are manifold, but the rise in organised crime is particular worrying as gangs systematically target one store after another across the country.' She added: 'Fortunately, there are some signs of progress with the government and the police taking steps to address retail crime through the Crime and Policing Bill which will abolish the £200 threshold for so-called “low-level” theft, reinforcing that all shoplifting is unacceptable. 'It will also create a specific offence for assaulting retail workers, leading to tougher sentences and better recognition of the issue, enabling police to allocate appropriate resources. 'It is vital that the police make full use of this new legislation so we can bring these numbers down once and for all.' Total recorded crime – excluding fraud and computer offences – was down two per cent to 5.24million, the ONS figures said. Separately, the Crime Survey of England and Wales - which is based on thousands of interviews with the public and is designed to catch crimes not reported to police – showed levels were stable at 9.6million incidents. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.