Five of the Queen's soldiers thrown out of Army after failing drugs test

The members of the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, were caught after a routine test of their unit.

An MoD spokesman would not discuss the drug involved or the disciplinary action taken against the five but it is believed they were all sacked from the Army after a Class A drug was discovered in their samples.

Members of Britain's King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery ride through Hyde Park in London (file photo)

He said: "We can confirm that five members of King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, London, have provided positive samples following their unit's recent testing as part of the Army's drug testing programme.

'Internal administrative action has been taken against all five soldiers."

The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, is stationed at St John's Wood and its duties - as part of the Household Troops - include the firing of royal salutes in Hyde Park on royal anniversaries and state occasions.

It also provides a gun carriage and team of black horses for state and military funerals.

For the past three weeks, the King's Troop has been guarding Buckingham Palace and other royal residences and this duty will end later today.

The MoD spokesman said: "Drug misuse in the Armed Forces will not be tolerated.

'Positive rates in the Army over the last three years average around 0.8%, compared with over 7% in civilian workplace drug testing programmes in the UK.'

Members of the British Army's King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery prepare for a 41 Gun Salute

The Army has a stringent policy against drug taking that has seen large numbers of soldiers thrown out of the service for testing positive for illegal substances.

There has been a significant rise in recent years of soldiers testing positive for drugs, according to research released last December.

Published by the Journal of the Royal United Services Institute, the study said that the British Army was losing almost a "battalion a year" due to illegal drug use.

Research into compulsory drugs testing of UK service personnel identified a rise in positive tests for illegal substances in the British Army from 517 individual cases in 2003, to 795 in 2005 and 769 in 2006.

Figures from the Ministry of Defence stated that out of 75,842 tests carried out during 2007, 678 were positive.

Just a month before the study was published 17 soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders tested positive for drugs after returning from a break in the Mexican resort of Cancun that had followed an exercise in the jungles of Belize.

Other major cases include eight soldiers who tested positive for drugs in February 2006 at a regiment where a number of personnel had already been caught out for abusing illegal substances.

The soldiers from the Green Howards, who were based at Beachley Barracks in Chepstow, failed a random drugs test.

A similar swoop in December the previous year saw another eight soldiers fail drug tests.

In October 2005, 14 soldiers at the regiment were found to have drugs in their system.

But in February 2006, the MoD confirmed that members of the Armed Forces were no longer being automatically kicked out if they were caught taking class A drugs.

Younger soldiers or new recruits may now be given a second chance if they agree to rehabilitation but those with a longer service would probably still face dismissal.