26. Written evidence from the National
Crime Squad
POLICE SERVICE, CRIME AND ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
IN WALES
1. INTRODUCTION
The National Crime Squad (NCS) is tasked with
combating national and international serious and organised crime
within, or affecting, England and Wales. This is achieved through
the selective targeting of offenders and organised crime enterprises,
exploiting every opportunity to prevent and reduce the destructive
impact of their criminal activity on communities and the fabric
of society.
Formed in 1998, the NCS is a Non-Departmental
Public Body. Responsibility for the accountability, management
and supervision of the organisation is vested in three entities:
the Director General, the Home Secretary and the Service Authority.
Operational direction lies with the Director General, supported
by a Deputy Director General, two Assistant Chief Constables,
a Director of Finance and a Director of Business Support. The
organisation is staffed by police officers from the 43 police
forces of England and Wales, as well as police officers who have
been directly employed under the Police Reform Act, and directly
employed police staff who perform both operational and support
roles. The organisation aims to have approximately 1,800 staff,
including separately funded national functions. NCS Headquarters
are in London, with three Operational Command Units (OCUs)—Northern,
Eastern and Western—covering the whole of England and Wales.
Each OCU consists of a number of branch offices where operational
teams are based. The NCS also encompasses multi-agency units tasked
with addressing specific areas of criminality, such as the National
Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU).
On 1 April 2006, the NCS will form a central
part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), as a result
of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill currently going
through Parliament.
2. THE NCS IN
WALES
The NCS has three branch offices in Wales. Each
of these branch offices are staffed by experienced detectives,
the majority of whom are currently seconded from local police
forces. These officers are supported by specialist police staff,
who provide intelligence analysis, financial investigation and
technical and administrative support. The branch offices have
made a significant impact on serious and organised criminality
in or affecting Wales through the dismantling and disruption of
organised crime enterprises. Over the last three years alone,
the NCS in Wales has achieved the following results:
— Seven major organised crime enterprises—all
connected to the trade in Class A drugs or organised immigration
crime—have been completely dismantled.
— Significant seizures of Class A drugs
(157 kilograms of cocaine and ecstasy), together with over two
metric tonnes of other drugs, (such as cannabis and amphetamine).
— 139 arrests of organised criminals,
the majority of whom reside in and/or impact on the Welsh market.
In the last three years, the majority of these main targets have
been based in Wales, although they have all had many associates
and contacts in the UK, Europe and internationally.
— The NCS in Wales has identified to
the Courts that these organised crime enterprises have accrued
benefits through their drug dealing to the approximate value of
£28 million. £7 million of criminal assets have been
identified and over £1.5 million has already been confiscated.
Furthermore, the NCS is working hard to support
Welsh police forces in tackling cross-border crime at Level 2
of the National Intelligence Model (NIM), particularly as part
of Operation TARIAN. NCS personnel in both north and south Wales
are permanent members of the Regional Tasking and Co-ordinating
Group (RTCG), which is responsible for addressing NIM Level 2
criminality within Wales. The RTCG in this region has also developed
a Regional Task Force (RTF) as its operational arm, which the
NCS is fully involved in supporting (see Operation CYAN below,
for example).
3. RECENT OPERATIONS
To illustrate the effectiveness, challenges
and variety of the work of the NCS in Wales, outlined below is
a precis of a number of operations over recent years:
Operation CONGLOMERATE (organised illegal immigration)
Operation CONGLOMERATE was an investigation
into an organised crime enterprise headed by a Bulgarian national
residing in Swansea on a false passport. The group was responsible
for the exploitation of young Bulgarian women for the purpose
of prostitution in massage parlours in both Wales and London.
Following extensive enquiries by the NCS and
the UK Immigration Service, the ringleaders were arrested and
subsequently deported to Bulgaria.
Operation CYAN (Class A drugs)
This was an operation investigating an organised
crime enterprise based in Lancaster and Bridgend supplying large
quantities of cocaine and ecstasy into the south Wales market.
An early breakthrough led to the arrest of the Lancaster supplier,
and subsequent enquiries identified a large network of Level 2
dealers and suppliers throughout the Neath, Port Talbot and Bridgend
Valley regions. Consultation with the RTF management resulted
in an agreement that the NCS would provide the RTF with all the
intelligence and evidence it had amassed during its investigation.
This enabled the RTF to execute 20 search warrants, which in turn
led to 18 arrests and the recovery of both Class A and B drugs
to the value £180,000 and £160,000, as well as cash
seizures.
In October 2004, 12 members of this organised
criminal enterprise were sentenced to a total of 60 years imprisonment
at Swansea Crown Court. The two principal members of the group
were jailed for 12 and 10 years imprisonment each.
The net result of this collaboration was a considerable
local impact in the communities concerned, with some local residents
telephoning the local Divisional Commander to congratulate the
police on taking such positive action. Community intelligence
indicated a shortage of drugs on the streets for some time afterwards.
The RTF were also commended for Operation CYAN by the Home Office,
"Tackling the Middle Market" at the Tackling Drug Supply
Awards 2004.
Operation EUREKA (Class A & B drugs)
Operation EUREKA was launched in May 2001 after
liaison with colleagues in the National Criminal Intelligence
Service (NCIS). The operation was a long-term investigation into
the criminal activities of Bernard William Rees. Rees was a major
criminal in Wales who controlled an organised crime enterprise
of both national and international significance. Rees had been
sentenced in 1993 to a term of 13 years imprisonment for offences
of importation and conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was released
from prison in May 2001 on licence, whereupon NCS officers mounted
Operation EUREKA into his drug distribution network. Rees' organisation
was responsible for the wholesale distribution of both Class A
and B controlled drugs. A significant and pivotal figure in this
organisation was Martin Barnes, a prominent South Wales businessman.
Officers mounted an extensive surveillance operation and gathered
evidence as members of the gang met in car parks and other venues
to set up major drug deals. The organisation dealt in cocaine,
heroin, amphetamine sulphate, crack-cocaine and ecstasy. The network
was dismantled when officers made a string of arrests between
January and May 2002 and seized drugs worth up to £1 million,
as well as £15,000 in cash. Half a kilo of cocaine was recovered,
one of the largest such seizures in 2002 in south Wales, along
with 30 kilos of amphetamine sulphate, a replica pistol and six
live 9mm rounds of ammunition.
12 men were sentenced to over 80 years imprisonment
following their convictions at Cardiff Crown Court on 7 May 2003.
The principal defendants, Rees and Barnes, were sentenced as follows:
— Bernard William Rees was convicted
of conspiracy to supply cocaine and two counts of conspiracy to
supply amphetamine. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
In addition, the Judge ordered that he be recalled to complete
an outstanding three and a half years imprisonment for a previous
conviction (conspiracy to supply cocaine) in 1993, when he was
sentenced 13 years imprisonment, but released in 2001 on license.
— Martin Barnes was convicted of two
counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine, two counts of conspiracy
to supply amphetamine, one count of possessing amphetamine with
intent to supply, one count of supplying cocaine and one count
of supplying heroin. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
Judge Richards commended all of the NCS officers
and staff involved in Operation EUREKA, stating that, "The
public is indebted to the NCS, and if not for their arrests of
the accused persons, the cocaine and amphetamine seized would
have hit the streets of South Wales".
To demonstrate the commitment to ensure that
major criminals do not profit from their criminal enterprises,
the NCS applied to the High Court in London, and won a legal ruling
to confiscate the proceeds of drug trafficking dating back to
an Order made 10 years ago at Cardiff Crown Court. In October
1993, a Confiscation Order for £142,243 was made against
Bernard William Rees after he was jailed for 13 years for supplying
cocaine. Rees failed to satisfy the Order and receivers were brought
in to identify and seize his assets, including properties in Spain,
Cardiff, and a 50% stake in his marital home in Cardiff. However,
before his conviction in 1993, Rees and his wife Margaret divorced
and she later filed an affidavit, which claimed the majority of
the assets belonged to her alone. The NCS contested the affidavit,
and after the High Court had ruled in its favour, it lifted a
restriction on the Receiver, allowing the realisation of the assets
over 10 years later.
Operation NEVADA (kidnap response)
Operation NEVADA involved NCS officers traveling
to Spain to assist North Wales Police and the Spanish authorities
in the investigation into missing couple Linda and Tony O'Malley,
from Llangollen. The couple had visited Spain in August 2002 with
a view to buying property in the Costa Blanca area, and were reported
missing when they failed to return home. The NCS established a
full kidnap response control centre in consultation with North
Wales Police, and subsequently managed negotiations after receiving
e-mail and telephone demands for money.
On 25 March 2003, Spanish police arrested four
people after technical inquiries significantly progressed the
investigation. Tragically, the decomposed bodies of Mr and Mrs
O'Malley were later found in the cellar of a villa in the north
of Alicante.
Operation ORE (paedophilia)
The Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT)
is one of several specialised units within the NCS, and is charged
with the investigation of on-line paedophilia, including the UK
co-ordination of the now publicised Operation ORE. This operation
started when, in 2001, the details of 7,272 British suspects who
had accessed child abuse images on a US website with their credit
cards were passed to UK authorities. Operation ORE subsequently
became the largest ever single investigation into online activity
of this nature. UK law enforcement was unprepared for the sheer
volume and proliferation of child abuse images on the net, which
resulted in the NCS being asked to review Operation ORE on behalf
of the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Home Office and
the wider UK law enforcement community.
The resultant recommendations called for a process
whereby a single team would receive, evaluate, risk assess and
disseminate material relating to national and international internet-related
child abuse. Regional forces would then use their expertise in
investigation and intervention. POLIT was thus established in
2002, becoming the single point of contact for domestic and international
law enforcement, as well as the administrative support for operational
tasking and co-ordination. Since January 2004, POLIT has handled
a total of 2,782 intelligence packages, including those from the
USA, Norway, Canada and Germany.
Operation ORE has had a significant impact in
Wales: 68 suspects were charged with offences, of which 62 were
convicted. Of these, 39 were sentenced and 11 were cautioned.
18 known abusers were removed, 40 additional child abuse investigations
were generated and—perhaps most importantly—six children
were recovered from abuse. 318 computers were examined in the
course of enquiries.
4. PARTNERSHIP
WORKING
Success on this scale is not achieved by operating
in isolation, and the NCS are proud of the fact that it has an
excellent working relationship with many other partner law enforcement
agencies, both domestic and foreign. For example, Her Majesty's
Customs and Excise, NCIS and UKIS within the UK, as well as the
Australian Federal Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police from overseas.
The NCS also work extensively with several governmental
departments, the security and intelligence agencies, as well as
both the private and voluntary sectors. It is at the forefront
of developing an innovative organised crime reduction strategy,
with such partnerships forming a key pillar of the organisation's
ability to proactively create obstacles to prevent organised criminals
going about their business.
5. CONCLUSION
The NCS in Wales are currently conducting several
operations which have an impact on Wales. These operations are
in various stages of development and are all concentrated upon
organised criminals who operate at NIM Level 3. Other specialised
units of the NCS, such as the NHTCU and POLIT, have provided Welsh
police forces with assistance to combat NIM Level 2 criminality
in Wales. The NCS also on occasions provide specialist training
to Welsh territorial police forces.
The NCS remains committed to continue, in partnership
with local forces, its fight against organised crime in Wales.
Whilst there are many challenges ahead for the organisation, notably
in the transition to SOCA in 2006, the Director General is committed
to maintaining and where possible improving upon the excellent
performance that has already been achieved by the NCS in Wales.
Trevor Pearce
Director General (Acting)
7 December 2004
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