Met Police Warns Spiking Offenders Are Turning to Everyday Medicines as Freshers’ Week Gets Underway

London, 23 September 2026 — Metropolitan Police detectives have issued a fresh warning that spiking offenders are increasingly turning to everyday medicines, prescription drugs and vapes to target victims, as officers launch operations across London’s universities, student events and nightlife venues for Freshers’ Week.

While spiking has traditionally been associated with bars and nightclubs, the Met says it is now investigating a growing number of offences linked to house parties, pre-drinks gatherings and student accommodation — settings where victims may feel less on guard.

A widening range of substances

Detectives say offenders continue to use drugs such as cocaine and ketamine, but are increasingly relying on readily available medications — including antihistamines and travel sickness tablets — that can cause drowsiness, confusion and memory loss when administered without someone’s knowledge. Officers are also reporting a rise in so-called “vape spiking,” where substances are added to vaping devices or e-liquids without the user’s consent.

To keep pace, the force says it has invested in new forensic equipment capable of rapidly testing suspected spiked vapes and identifying substances that standard over-the-counter testing kits often miss. In the past year, the Met secured 131 positive outcomes for spiking-related offences, a 20 per cent rise on the previous year, with more than half of all reported victims aged between 18 and 35.

Detective Superintendent Dan Thompson, the Met’s spiking lead, said officers are seeing offenders use “a wider range of substances than ever before”, while increasingly targeting victims away from traditional nightlife settings. He urged anyone affected to come forward quickly, noting that many of the substances involved leave only a narrow forensic window before evidence is lost. met

The case behind the warning

The Met’s announcement follows the sentencing of Chao Xu, 33, from Greenwich, who was jailed for life earlier this year after admitting a string of rape, sexual assault and voyeurism offences against women he invited to gatherings at his flat. Toxicology analysis found substances including GHB and a travel sickness medication had been given to victims without their knowledge — a case detectives say illustrates how private settings, not just clubs and bars, are now firmly on offenders’ radar.

A problem that remains under-reported nationally

The Met’s local warning lands alongside wider national data suggesting spiking remains a significant and under-reported problem. According to the 2025 Drinkaware Monitor, produced with Anglia Ruskin University, close to one million UK adults believe they were spiked in the past year, with the rate nearly doubling among 18 to 34-year-olds. Strikingly, fewer than one in four victims reported the incident to police, most commonly because they doubted officers would act or could not clearly remember what had happened.

That reluctance to report comes despite a marked rise in recorded offences in the capital: Metropolitan Police figures show drink-spiking offences in London more than quadrupled between 2018 and 2022, from 497 recorded cases to 2,066.

What the Met is asking Londoners to do

Throughout Freshers’ Week, officers will carry out targeted patrols at universities, student events and night-time economy venues across the capital. The force is urging anyone who believes they have been spiked to report it as soon as possible — calling 999 if an offence is in progress or has just happened, or 101 and online otherwise — stressing that early reporting gives investigators the best chance of securing CCTV, forensic evidence and witness accounts.

With tens of thousands of new and returning students arriving in London this month, and offenders adapting their methods faster than public awareness campaigns can keep up, police and charities alike say the message is likely to need repeating well beyond this week alone.

Sources

• Metropolitan Police, “Met warns predatory offenders are increasingly using everyday medicines to spike unsuspecting victims,” news.met.police.uk (23 September 2026)
• Drinkaware & Anglia Ruskin University, “Nearly one million UK adults experienced drink spiking in the past year, new data reveals,” 2025 Drinkaware Monitor
• Anglia Ruskin University, “Data suggests a million UK adults spiked in last year,” aru.ac.uk