Police have sent out an urgent warning to addicts that an impure batch of drugs may have caused the deaths of three people in the past few days, writes Mark Templeton.

The deaths come as police warn dealers are stockpiling drugs ready to target young people at Christmas and New Year parties.

A 49-year-old man and two women, aged 29 and 22, died in separate incidents between Friday and Monday.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) has warned that Ecstasy has been flooding into Britain as a result of the expected high demand for illegal drugs over the holiday period. Police have not yet released the names of the three dead as all relatives have yet to be informed.

The 22-year-old woman, of Coltsfoot Square, Blackbird Leys, who was known to drugs squad officers, died in the Bristol area on Friday.

She had recently been bailed at Oxford Magistrates' Court for possession with intent to supply heroin after being arrested as part of a crackdown into dealing in the city's Bonn Square.

The man was discovered by a friend on a sofa in a bedsit in Bartlemas Road on Sunday.

A small quantity of heroin and crack cocaine was seized by police and a man and a woman were arrested. On Monday, officers were called to another bedsit in nearby Divinity Road where they found the body of the 29-year-old woman.

Further tests were being carried out on both bodies found in Oxford and the coroner has been informed.

Det Insp Melvyn Young, of Oxford Police, said: "At this time it is too early in the investigation to link both deaths and to be 100 per cent sure that drugs were the cause.

"However, the locality and circumstances suggest that impure street drugs could be involved. "Drug users should be aware that every time they use illegal street drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine, then they run the risk of death.

"Suppliers of such drugs should equally be aware that a thorough police investigation will follow any drugs related death."

He said the fight against drugs would continue over the Christmas and New Year period.

The Cowley Road-based anti-drugs agency, Libra, is offering advice to drug users in the wake of the deaths to try to avoid further tragedies.

Spokesman Kris Weston said: "Our advice is to avoid street drugs completely if possible. But if you must, we strongly recommend you do not take drugs intravenously but adopt the safer form of transmission of smoking drugs. "If you do choose to use, then precautions should be made including not being alone, reducing the amount of normal drug taken and seeking immediate attention if suffering abnormal, unusual or exaggerated effects."

Customs officers have seized 325kgs of Ecstasy since October this year, compared with 250kgs for the whole of last year, amid a worldwide boom for synthetic drugs.

Most of the drugs coming into Britain are from the Netherlands and some Ecstasy pills have an M or 2000 logo.

The NCIS also has evidence to suggest British-born gangsters were increasingly setting up their own laboratories to produce Ecstasy and other illegal drugs.

*Libra can be contacted on 01865 245634.

Story date: Wednesday 22 December

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