National Crime Agency (NCA)

💷 This festive season, don’t fall for fake “investment” opportunities. Criminals will present professional and credible-looking online adverts, send emails, and create websites to advertise fake investment opportunities. Learn how to spot the signs of #InvestmentFraud 👉 https://lnkd.in/eM9wRDV2 #12Frauds

🎉📣OUT NOW!!! 📣🎉 SARs In Action Issue 29 is available on the NCA website now https://bit.ly/3BBB9ym Featuring 🔹Trafficking in Human Beings: A call to action for the financial sector 🔹Company Formation Analysis 🔹Illicit Finance Public Private Threat Group; Hydroponics Cell 🔹2024 Global Financial Institutions Summit 🔹Tackling Economic Crime Awards 2024

WARNING: This post contains references to child sexual abuse. A man from Wales has been sentenced to nine years in prison after NCA investigators proved he had been paying for the live streamed abuse of children. Stephen Lane was brought to the attention of the NCA following the arrest of an individual in the Philippines who had been facilitating child abuse. Lane had made three payments totalling around 5750 Filipino Pesos. In messages sent between 22 March and 7 April 2023, he queried the ages of children in explicit images, and asked to view content involving an eight-year-old in exchange for payment. On 25 May 2023, NCA officers arrested Lane at his home address and seized a number of devices. After caution, he stated “I know it’s wrong”. In messages sent before and during video calls, he repeatedly voiced concerns about value for money, refusing to pay before seeing and confirming the ages of the children on screen. On several occasions, he directed the abuse of children via the chat function. Lane admitted a string of child sexual offences including paying for sexual services of a child and causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child. Today, he was sentenced to nine years in prison. The facilitators in the Philippines have been arrested and the children involved safeguarded. Today’s result demonstrates our resolve to pursue those who pose a sexual risk to children, and our commitment to joint work with international counterparts in the Philippines to ensure they face justice. Full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eTJeemxC

A senior member of an organised crime group (OCG) that ran an amphetamine lab in Scotland, and trafficked heroin and cocaine, has been sentenced following a NCA investigation. Colin Wright was arrested by the Spanish National Police in March this year at the request of the NCA, and extradited to the UK on 4 October. Wright had travelled to Spain to avoid capture after NCA officers apprehended fellow OCG members in March 2021. He was the head of the OCG's Scottish arm, and was actively involved in the supply of cocaine and heroin in both Scotland and England. He is the final member of the OCG to be sentenced, with six others now serving jail terms. Wright helped ship at least 20 kilos of cocaine and 10 kilos of heroin, with the former moved from Merseyside to Motherwell and the latter in the opposite direction. The lab was also capable of producing 1,000 kilos of amphetamine. He pleaded guilty to five drugs charges at Liverpool Crown Court on 1 November and was sentenced to 13 years and four months imprisonment at the same court today. His sentencing means that we have completely dismantled this organised crime group, who posed a grave danger to communities in Scotland and Merseyside, with the drugs they trafficked helping to fuel violence and exploitation in these areas. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eXCPA4Nb

🎄 Let’s enjoy a #FraudFreeXmas 🎄 Action Fraud has launched a Christmas campaign, revealing 12 fraud types to look out for throughout the festive season. Today, we're focusing on romance fraud. The effects of romance fraud can be incredibly harmful to victims, often resulting in financial and emotional harm. In our fraud issue of SARs In Action, we feature an article from the UKFIU SARs Enquiry and Action Team who provide advice on potential indicators that you or someone you know may experience as a victim of this crime and advice for reporters on how to provide information regarding this type of fraud when submitting a SAR to the UKFIU. To read the full article in issue 20, click here bit.ly/44O94xE #12Frauds

#ICYMI Two men, including the son of crime boss Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, have been sentenced for their roles in an elaborate firearms plot he orchestrated in a bid to reduce his prison term. Jack Kavanagh and Peter Keating were part of a trusted group who obtained guns and ammunition in hope that by burying the weapons, Thomas Kavanagh would be able to lead officers to them and negotiate a lesser sentence for his crimes. In reality, NCA officers had seen their Encrochat conversations and uncovered the role each man had played in the conspiracy. Jack Kavanagh was handed three years and one month, and Keating received four years and eight months. FULL STORY ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eyC8Cdza

We are proud to announce that the NCA has won two awards from the Association of Police Communicators (APComm). Our podcast ‘Underworld: Behind the Scenes of the NCA’ was 'highly commended' for Innovative Use of Media, ‘recognising a team who used different media platforms to capture the public's imagination and support operational policing objectives.’ Our #DitchTheScript campaign, which aimed to prevent 10-16-year-olds across the UK from committing cyber-dependant crimes, also won runner up for Campaign of the Year. As a Communications team, we strive to diversify how we reach audiences, tell our stories and maximise our impact in protecting the public from serious and organised crime.

A man who tried to smuggle £4m worth of ketamine into the UK has been jailed for three years and nine months after NCA officers recovered footage of him buying wood to conceal the drugs. Mika Voorhans, from the Netherlands, was arrested after 100 kilos of ketamine were discovered behind panelling screwed to the inside of his van. The NCA launched an investigation after Voorhans was stopped by Border Force when attempting to board the Channel Tunnel in France in the early hours of 4 December 2023. Voorhans denied knowledge of the drugs and told NCA investigators he hired the van to collect a second-hand motorbike in Coventry for a friend-of-a-friend. He claimed the panelling was installed by others, to prevent damage to the van. NCA officers, assisted by Dutch Police, retrieved shop CCTV footage before it could be wiped. The footage showed Voorhans buying the panelling and taking it to the van. Voorhans’ phone contained a video of the van being panelled and Snapchat posts requesting help with woodwork. Forensic analysts also identified Voorhans’ DNA on the drugs. Voorhans pleaded guilty to importing Class B drugs at Canterbury Crown Court and was sentenced at the same court today. FULL STORY ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ex5TiV_R

Three men have been jailed for their roles in an organised crime group that smuggled several billion pounds worth of heroin, cocaine and cannabis into the UK. The OCG included offenders from across the UK and criminals from the Netherlands who were brought to justice following an NCA investigation into the UK's biggest ever drugs conspiracy. From south east England to Scotland, the OCG supplied other crime groups drugs from its importations – which are believed to have contained more than 50 tonnes of drugs - the weight of around 30 family sized cars. Sohail Qureshi, one of the gang's key members, was today sentenced to 25 years behind bars at Manchester Crown Court. Qureshi was convicted of plotting to import heroin, cocaine and cannabis and was crucial to the OCG because he helped them join forces with a team of offenders from the Netherlands, which generated new smuggling routes to the UK. He worked closely with Khaleed Vazeer and Ghazanfar Mahmood. Mahmood was convicted of being involved in an OCG. The former taxi driver took his orders from Qureshi and travelled to Spain and the Netherlands to develop the operation. He was sentenced to three years and nine months. Vazeer helped set up a front company in the UK and helped Dutch crime boss Barbara Rijnbout – jailed for 18 years earlier this year – open personal and business bank accounts in the UK by using forged documents. In total, more than 246 years of jail time has been given to 12 members of the OCG. FULL STORY ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ebuQ2PCd

The NCA is fighting back against fraud, through our partnerships with law enforcement around the world. Project WINTERPROOF specifically focuses on collaborating with countries where the fraud threat to the UK is highest. Find out more in the post below 👇