AN Army officer has become the first to fail a drugs test.

The junior officer based at Catterick, North Yorkshire, with the Royal Army Medical Corps, has been suspended while the Army investigates the case.

The investigation should be completed within a few weeks, and if it is proved, the officer, who has not been named, faces instant dismissal.

The officer was screened as part of the military's compulsory drug testing programme which was introduced in 1995.

An Army spokesman confirmed that he was the first person of his rank to test positive.

It is alleged that traces of a recreational drug, which does not include Class A drugs such as heroin or cocaine, were found.

He said: "Random testing was introduced in recognition of the growing drug problem within society as a whole from which the Army recruits.

''We have an absolute zero tolerance towards the misuse of drugs as it is incompatible with service life."

Just under 400 people have failed the test from a total of 67,000 carried out over the past five years

The Army spokesman said that regular random testing had helped reduce drug misuse to a tenth of what it was in civilian life.