National Crime Agency calls for tougher sentencing and a new offence of running abuse websites
Eight out of 10 people in the UK caught with images of children being sexually abused avoid going to jail, the head of the National Crime Agency has revealed.
Graeme Biggar, the director general of the NCA, said some had been caught with thousands of images but avoided imprisonment, and others had been given rehabilitation orders and suspended sentences and then reoffended.
Continue reading...Home affairs select committee members criticise policy of working with businesses such as Vivastreet
Senior police officers have “cosied up” to “pimping websites” that allegedly allow trafficked women to be “raped multiple times a day”, MPs have said.
Dame Diana Johnson, the chair of the home affairs select committee, said it was “disgraceful” that police forces and the National Crime Agency (NCA) were engaging with businesses such as Vivastreet.
Continue reading...Richard Wakeling, 55, had been on the run since he fled the UK before his trial for drug smuggling in 2018
A British organised crime boss has been arrested in Thailand after being on the run for five years.
Richard Wakeling, 55, from Brentwood, Essex, tried to import £8m of liquid amphetamine into the UK in April 2016.
Continue reading...Former National Crime Agency chief worries civil service reductions could have devastating effect
The former head of Britain’s equivalent of the FBI has said she fears ministers’ plans to cut civil servant posts could have a “devastating” impact on tackling serious and organised crime.
Speaking to Policing TV, Dame Lynne Owens, the former director general of the National Crime Agency (NCA), said she was keeping a “keen eye” on discussions about proposals to axe 90,000 jobs and how they may affect the agency she led for five years.
Continue reading...Met assistant commissioner will ask Home Office why he was overlooked for top job
Neil Basu has said he will be demanding an explanation from the government about why he was overlooked to be the next leader of the National Crime Agency (NCA).
The Met assistant commissioner, 53, said he would not be reapplying to be director-general after the application process was reopened.
Continue reading...Supreme court upholds order against Zamira Hajiyeva, who spent £1m a year at Harrods
A woman who spent £1m a year at Harrods will be forced to give up her £15m home unless she reveals the source of her fortune following the UK’s first McMafia-style “dirty money” investigation.
Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of a former boss of the Azerbaijani state bank jailed for fraud, has lost her final appeal against a court order forcing her to reveal how she came by so much money.
Continue reading...Government document reveals plans to ditch tool that allows for fast extradition of criminals
The UK is to abandon a crucial tool used to speed up the transfer of criminals across borders with other European countries.
Acting against the warnings of senior law enforcement officials, the government said it would not be seeking to participate in the European arrest warrant (EAW) as part of the future relationship with the European Union.
Continue reading...Prosecutors criticised over jailing of Eritrean man wrongly identified as human trafficker
Italian investigators who pursued a case against an Eritrean man accused of being one of the world’s most-wanted human traffickers in a case of mistaken identity were guilty of “serious neglect”, judges in Sicily have said.
In a 400-page judicial report, the court of assizes traced the three-year ordeal of Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe, a 30-year-old refugee released from an Italian jail in July.
Continue reading...NCA harvesting EU crime databases in attempt to mitigate loss of access to data, leaked report suggests
Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) is harvesting information from EU databases, including 54,000 files covering criminals, terrorists and missing persons, in an attempt to mitigate the heightened risks of a no-deal Brexit, according to a leaked document.
The report, seen by the Guardian, suggests EU alerts have been transferred to the Police National Computer (PNC) to give UK forces access after 31 October but that key strands of British policing remain “in jeopardy” because of the growing danger of a no-deal exit since Theresa May’s resigned as prime minister.
Continue reading...Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe wrongly arrested based on tipoffs from NCA and GCHQ
The acquittal of Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe by an Italian court of being a human trafficking kingpin is a major embarrassment for Britain’s National Crime Agency and the GCHQ intelligence service.
Berhe’s arrest in 2016 was trumpeted as a major coup in the battle against international people-smuggling, but unbeknown to them at the time, the Italian and British authorities had mistaken the Eritrean for one of the world’s most-wanted human traffickers, Medhanie Yehdego Mered, aka the General.
Continue reading...Judge acquits Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe of being a human trafficking kingpin
A Palermo judge has acquitted an Eritrean man of being a human trafficking kingpin, confirming he was the victim of mistaken identity when he was arrested more than three years ago in a joint operation between Italian and British authorities.
The arrest of Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe in 2016 was presented to the press as a brilliant coup by Italian and British authorities, who mistook him for one of the world’s most-wanted human traffickers, Medhanie Yehdego Mered, aka the General.
Continue reading...Lynne Owens to make challenge to ministers during launch of strategic assessment
The government needs to find an extra £2.7bn to tackle the growth in serious and organised crime that is causing “staggering” damage to the United Kingdom, according to the director general of the National Crime Agency.
Lynne Owens is due to make the direct challenge to ministers on Tuesday as she launches the agency’s annual national strategic assessment mapping out dangers from cyber crime, child sexual exploitation, drugs and other serious and organised crime.
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