'Deadly heroin batch is putting lives at risk here'

Ellie Harris joined Det Sgt Mark Ghosh and Det Con Claire Lukey as they safeguarded a drug user in Colchester

A deadly batch of heroin cut with synthetic opioids is putting lives at risk in a city, a drug support worker claimed.

Ellie Harris said drug dealers in Colchester were contaminating the Class A drug to make it last longer amid a shortage of supply to the UK.

The batches were so potent that Naloxone - a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose - was not working in some cases, said Ms Harris, from the charity Open Road.

Essex Police officers told the BBC that vulnerable drug users were being warned about the "deadly" heroin circulation.

The force has made three arrests after three people died in what officers believed to be drug-related deaths in Colchester earlier this month.

Drug users in Colchester are being warned by the police about a "contaminated" batch of heroin

Ms Harris, 23, said she had received more reports of incidents involving synthetic opioids in the past six weeks than in the preceding six months.

"It has become quite a large problem because the Taliban have put a stop to the production of heroin and they're not distributing it to the UK anymore," she said.

The charity worker said dealers had "stockpiled the heroin and are then drip-feeding it", while adding protonitazenes, nitazenes, fentanyl and carfentanil to the drug.

"It's killing people," Ms Harris added.

"When someone thinks they’re taking heroin, it’s not necessarily heroin – it’s a lot of different things mixed together and it's very dangerous."

Colchester MP Will Quince said drug dealers traded on the "misery" of other people

The Conservative MP for Colchester, Will Quince, said he understood a "contaminated batch of heroin" had killed the three people between 12 and 14 May.

He said drug dealers were making "huge amounts of money trading on the misery of others".

"But if there wasn’t a market, these county lines wouldn't be operating in Colchester," said the MP.

Mr Quince also called for people to be educated about the dangers of so-called recreational drugs, such as cannabis and cocaine.

"If you are purchasing and taking recreational drugs, then you are – I’m sorry to say – part of the problem."

'Vulnerable'

The BBC joined safeguarding officers from Essex Police's Operation Raptor team on Monday.

They visited a known drug user in Old Heath, Colchester, to provide him with support.

There has been a shortage of heroin supplied to the UK, Ellie Harris said

Det Sgt Mark Ghosh said: "Historically, the police have only been seen as the ones who go and make the arrests.

"Without this safeguarding branch, you're not necessarily picking up on the vulnerable adults who do need that extra support.

"It’s key we get in there to speak to them and safeguard them, and identify if they've been a victim too."

Det Con Claire Lukey added that officers were helping drug users to realise that, in some cases, they were victims of a crime.

“Quite often, victims of cuckooing may not see themselves as victims.

"Whether that be the promise of something which is never fulfilled or even because - alongside being exploited - they are committing other criminal offences and they don’t want to come forward.

“But when that balance has tipped much stronger towards exploitation, that person will primarily be treated as a victim and we’ll do all we can to help them.”