An investigation undertaken by Cambridge News has revealed that the high value of drugs in Cambridge may be leading London dealers to “commute” to the city.

The residents of Cambridge are purchasing drugs for more than twice the going rate in London. A recent surge in price has transformed the city’s trade from a local racket to a site of major organized crime.

Driven by the city’s wealth and high levels of demand, the minimum cost for a bag of heroin and a rock of crack cocaine has risen to £15. Equivalent quantities would cost only half that price in London. One Cambridge student told Varsity that she has paid as much as £100 for a gram of cocaine in Cambridge. 

In addition, recent police crackdowns have left many Cambridge dealers behind bars, leaving a gap in the market. London dealers have responded by attempting to muscle in on the city’s trade.

On Thursday, Matthew Aboderin, a 21-year-old drug dealer from Croydon, was caught with 46 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine in his rectum. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

Shayne Walters, 17, is another recent arrest. The Camberwell youth was found near flats in Cockerell Road, North Cambridge, with 85 wraps of crack cocaine and heroin.These and other buildings are used as stash houses by London gangs, and are key to their exploitation of the Cambridge market.

Judge Gareth Hawkesworth cited several recent drugs-related arrests of Londoners in Cambridge, and described the emergent trend as a “major problem.” He has even gone as far as calling for a report on the scale of the issue from the Crown Prosecution Service. Confirmation of the size of Cambridge’s drug trade would allow him to impose harsher sentences on convicted criminals.

Many of the dealers being sent to Cambridge are teenagers, which suggests that they may be under pressure from more senior gang-members.

In light of this information, previous crimes may also be evidence of friction between gangs. In 2012, two men in St Bartholemew’s Court, of Riverside, were attacked by three men with knives and a meat cleaver. The attackers were arrested on the motorway back to London and jailed for a total of 42 years.

Police sources believed the men came to Cambridge from London to stamp their authority on the patch.Parkside and Mill Road have consistently been the sites of the greatest number of drug-related arrests.

A recent investigation by the Tab has revealedevidence of cocaine use in university buildings, while a survey last year suggested that 57 per cent of Cambridge students had used drugs at some time.

No systematic investigation of the role the student population plays in Cambridge’s drug trade has as yet been undertaken.

Detective Inspector Craig Harrison said: “Drug dealing is a scourge on society that fuels other serious crime including burglary, robbery and anti-social behaviour, and we are committed to catching and putting before the courts those involved in it.”