National Crime Agency running 800-plus live operations on tenth anniversary

Current NCA investigations include those against:

*a ransomware group responsible for hundreds of victims in the UK (and thousands around the world) who’ve lost hundreds of millions of pounds in ransom payments and disruption costs

*a group of the highest harm predatory criminals who hide on The Dark Web and instruct others how to commit the worst kinds of sexual offences against children in the UK

*an organised crime group based in Europe whose members are importing illegally acquired powerful automatic weapons into the UK for use by crime groups across the country

*a network of UK-based money launderers working together to clean millions of pounds via cash and crypto on behalf of multiple UK-based crime groups

Protection of the public is at the very heart of the NCA’s mission. Since the organisation was launched in 2013, its work has resulted in:

*more than 23,000 disruptions (ie actions that have reduced or removed a crime threat)

*upwards of 12,500 arrests

*more than 4,900 convictions

*jail terms totalling over 21,100 years

*seizures of over 2,000 tonnes of cocaine, heroin and cannabis

^the seizure of more than 3,100 firearms

The harm from serious and organised crime is not always visible. Its reach is limitless and pernicious. It causes more harm, to more people and more often than any other national security threat.

It ruins lives every single day. It exploits the vulnerable and it destroys communities across the UK, with families ruined by drugs – by addiction and the violence and crime it drives. Young lives cut short by overdoses and gun crime. Childhoods scarred by sexual abuse and constant re-victimisation as sickening videos and images are shared by offenders online. People’s life savings can be stolen through online fraud or cyber attacks.

Operation Venetic

In the last decade, the NCA has been at the forefront of the country’s response to serious and organised crime threats, which have been increasingly enabled by technological advancements.

In 2020, for example, the NCA led the UK’s response to the takedown of encrypted communications platform EncroChat, exclusively used by criminals, under Operation Venetic.

So far under Operation Venetic, across UK law enforcement no fewer than 3,147 suspects have been arrested, 1,240 offenders convicted, more than nine tonnes of cocaine and heroin seized and 173 firearms seized. Offenders have been jailed for a combined total of more than 7,930 years.

In 2019, a Russian national who ran the world’s most harmful cyber crime group responsible for losses of hundreds of millions of pounds in the UK alone, was indicted in the United States following unprecedented collaboration between the NCA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Last year, the NCA arrested members of a major criminal network suspected of involvement in the smuggling of up to 10,000 people into the UK, with linked arrests across Europe.

This year, the NCA was involved in an international operation to take down one of the biggest online marketplaces selling stolen credentials to criminals worldwide. The NCA identified hundreds of UK-based users of the Genesis Market and co-ordinated arrests.

Commodity-based crimes

In the last decade, the NCA has conducted an enormous amount of work against commodity-based crimes involving drugs and firearms. This year, the NCA announced it had seized more than 700 firearms in the UK in a project with Spanish law enforcement, Border Force and the police service. The NCA has also been responsible for the seizure of some huge consignments of Class A drugs.

One example was Operation Screenplay: the seizure of 3.2 tonnes of cocaine worth £512 million in 2015 from a tug boat intercepted 100 miles off the Aberdeen coast. At the time, this represented the UK’s biggest ever seizure. Two men were jailed for 42 years.

Functions explained

The functions of the NCA are two-fold. First, to reduce crime through its own investigations and, when appropriate, to co-ordinate, enable and lead the work of law enforcement partners. Second, to gather, analyse and disseminate intelligence.

The NCA does this with its world-leading intelligence capabilities and highly skilled and specialist officers who bring their expertise and passion to work every day to make the UK safer, whether that’s on the streets or online.

The NCA also provides support to police forces across the country as it hosts a vast array of specialist national and international capabilities, which are used for the benefit of all UK law enforcement regimes.

For example, last year the NCA’s major crime investigative support officers worked on 11,163 policing investigations and directly supported vulnerable victims and witnesses on more than 8,400 occasions.

Another NCA specialist team is the Anti-Kidnap and Extortion Unit. The team provides expert support in the UK and internationally, working covertly to secure the safe release of hostages and combat blackmail and extortion. Since 2013, the team has received in excess of 5,500 kidnap reports and more than 6,000 blackmail reports.

Overseas, the NCA has also safeguarded more than 300 hostages in kidnaps involving British Nationals.

Immense achievements

NCA director general Graeme Biggar said: “Our achievements over the last ten years are immense. We are now working in an increasingly volatile world. Organised crime groups are capitalising on new online opportunities, global conflict and cost-of-living pressures to evade law enforcement and inflict harm.”

Biggar continued: “Organised crime looked different ten years ago and will look different ten years from now. To address the rapidly changing threat and stay on the front foot, we are focusing on several things. We’re targeting top-tier criminals by harnessing intel to pinpoint the most harmful crime groups and target the links in the criminal chain that are hardest to replace.”

He added: “We’re also focusing far more on overseas territories in order to address the threat posed to the UK, from wherever it originates, and taking the fight online to combat crime business models that now rely on technology.”

Biggar concluded: “Over our next decade, the NCA will only become better and stronger. Every day, we learn more about those who harm us, we recruit excellent officers who dedicate their lives to keeping people safe and we improve our technological and intelligence capabilities. The threat of serious and organised crime remains. I’m proud to lead the NCA and we will do everything possible to protect members of the public.”