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Release (100/2008) issued by The Government News Network on 15 May 2008
Serious Organised
Crime Agency Publishes Second Annual Report The Serious Organised
Crime Agency (SOCA) today published its second annual report - for
the year 2007/08.
SOCA was set up to hit serious organised criminals where they are
weakest; wherever that may be. During the second year that has
involved: significant seizures of drugs and the chemicals required
to produce class A drugs; more money taken from criminals;
increasing use of new tools and powers; and, work with the private
sector to make crime harder to commit in the first place.
Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said:
"SOCA is having a significant impact on serious organised
crime from seizing class A Drugs, confiscating criminals'
wealth and targeted interventions that make life harder for
organised criminals to operate.
"This report shows how SOCA has set about its tasks in its
second year of operating and I congratulate SOCA for its hard work
and commitment to tackling those criminals that threaten our
society and the innocent people within it."
Bill Hughes QPM, Director General of SOCA, said:
"We are attacking the world's strongest criminals where
they are weakest, whether that is in Bogota or Bolton. We're
systematically disrupting every link in the crime chain - from
finance and production to communications and distribution."
Highlights of SOCA's second year include:
Another record year in the war against drugs
* almost 90 tonnes of class A drugs seized with partners at home
and abroad (a 20 per cent increase on last year). The cocaine
alone, cut to usual UK street quality, could have realised £6bn.
* over 30 tonnes of cannabis seized with partners at home and abroad;
* over 60 tonnes of precursor chemicals seized principally in
Colombia and Afghanistan. The Colombian chemicals alone could have
produced 190 tonnes of cocaine;
Deploying new tools and powers
* 41 Financial Reporting Orders in force during the year on
convicted criminals' finances - including the recent first
prosecution for a contravention;
* 53 disclosure notices -requiring individuals to co-operate with
investigations by producing documents or answering questions;
* 10 ancillary orders - including travel restrictions and
director disqualifications;
* 12 cases of additional licence conditions to reduce
re-offending by serious criminals - Including non association with
co-defendants and exclusion zones;
Prevention of serious crimes by working in new ways
* 46 warnings on crime threats issued to over 2,500 private
sector organisations throughout the UK;
* one bank alone reported an estimated loss of £500,000 prevented
as a result of a single alert;
Improved intelligence
* 2,000 serious organised criminals subject to SOCA operational activity;
* a recent mapping project with the police has identified
thousands more criminals who will now be targeted jointly;
Specialist support for UK law enforcement
* specialist operational support to police contributed to the
effective handling of 14 threats to life and successfully resolved
22 kidnaps.
Cutting off criminal cash flows
* Over £46m criminal assets restrained by the domestic courts;
* All SOCA operations now include financial investigations and an
additional 35 financial investigators were appointed during the year.
Examples in the report of SOCA operations in the last year include:
Operation AJOWAN investigated UK-based criminals trading
worldwide in stolen bank, credit card and identity information via
the web. The criminals were arrested, prosecuted and convicted and
the potential loss to the UK from the actions of just one of the
conspirators was assessed at over £6m;
Operation HOBART was an investigation into a North London
criminal group responsible for trafficking Class A drugs into the
UK. This involved working with American, European, Colombian and
UK law enforcement agencies. During the investigation, illegal
drugs with an estimated street value of £3.7m and $6 billion in
counterfeit bonds and letters of credit with a face value of over
£3 billion were seized. The three principals implicated were
sentenced to 74 years imprisonment and seven associates a total of
70 years imprisonment.
Heroin in Carpets - in January 2008, SOCA received two separate
reports from HMRC of illegal drugs importations coming through
airports. Three packages of carpets were found to contain 16kg of
heroin woven into them. Subsequent investigation led to the
recovery of two further kilos of heroin at a UK address. Three
individuals were charged with importation, possession and
conspiracy to supply. A further 35kg of heroin were later found at
another airport.
Tesco extortion arrest - SOCA, in support of Hertfordshire
Constabulary, successfully arrested the individual who attempted
extortion of Tesco leading to the closure of a number of stores.
The individual was convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment.
A joint operation between SOCA and Lithuanian law enforcement
agencies focussed on the trafficking and subsequent distribution
of firearms into the UK from Lithuania. Resulting intelligence led
to operations which resulted in 10 arrests, the recovery of 22
handguns, 6 machine pistols, 20 silencers and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
Notes to Editors:
The Serious Organised Crime Agency was launched on 1 April 2006
(Home Office press notice 055/2006). It was formed from the
National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service,
and parts of HM Revenue and Customs and the Immigration Service,
but was tasked by Ministers to adopt a fresh approach, aimed at
increasing understanding of organised crime and then using a
combination of traditional law enforcement tools and new ways of
working to address the harm caused by serious organised crime.
On 1 April 2008 the Assets Recovery Agency merged with SOCA.
More information at http://www.soca.gov.uk