Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jul 2006
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2006 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Mark Townsend
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DRUGS FUEL BIG RISE IN ORGANISED CRIME

New Report Shows Gangs Enjoy Easy Access To Guns And Judicial Corruption

Organised crime in the UK is increasing rapidly, with firearms and 
drugs easily obtained by underworld syndicates which are also moving 
into child pornography to swell profits, a government report reveals tomorrow.

The first analysis of the threat of criminal gangs to the UK by the 
Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) adds that corruption remains a 
problem in the criminal justice system and that, far from reforming 
offenders, prison now forms the 'basis for many later criminal collaborations'.

In an alarming picture of the influence of major crime networks, the 
report admits the internet and the skill of syndicates in keeping one 
step ahead of police and security services mean the threat of 
organised criminals to the UK is 'increasing in both scope and complexity'.

Set up last February to target Britain's biggest gangsters, Soca's 
assessment warns that UK criminals are 'unlikely to have difficulty 
in acquiring a firearm should they wish to do so'. It adds that 
demand for firearms remains high, with criminals able to procure 
weapons from the internet or through the post easily and with 
reasonable safety.

Although attempts to crack down on child pornography have 
intensified, the report concludes that the number of active sex 
offenders in the UK remains unknown. However, evidence suggests 
numbers are growing, with the internet 'increasing the scale and 
reducing the risk' to perpetrators.

As the market has grown, intelligence reports reveal that major 
organised criminal networks are starting to move into child 
pornography. Recent trends monitored by police include the growing 
use of 'morphing', where images of children are altered by computer 
technology, while advances in internet technology have allowed 
'real-time video coverage of abuse shown simultaneously to a number 
of viewers'. The US remains the host country for most illegal 
websites, although in the past year Japan has witnessed a sharp growth.

The report also notes with concern that the continued fall in the 
price of drugs indicates that measures to reduce the trade in illegal 
narcotics are failing. Average street prices of heroin have fallen 
from UKP70 a gram in December 2000 to UKP49. The cost of a gram of 
cocaine fell from UKP65 to UKP40 over the same period, while the 
price of ecstasy pills dropped from UKP9 to UKP4.

Over the past year, intelligence officials recorded a growing number 
of trafficked prostitutes from Lithuania and Africa, notably Nigeria, 
entering the UK. Street prices for illegally imported prostitutes are 
currently running at between UKP2,000 and UKP3,000. Elsewhere, 
attempts to smuggle illegal immigrants into the UK are still being 
made through the French ports of Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk, with 
Moscow, Kiev, Istanbul, Sarajevo and the Balkans identified as key 
points en route to the UK. The number of criminal gangmasters 
involved in finding work for illegal immigrants in the UK stands at 10,000.

One of the most serious issues for Soca remains corruption, and it 
recorded 'a number of instances where UK law enforcement officers 
have acted corruptly and colluded with criminals,' although precise 
details are not given. Despite attempts to eradicate corrupt 
relations between serious criminal figures and figures throughout the 
criminal justice system, the report adds that syndicates remain adept 
at using the 'corruption of insiders ... to monitor law enforcement 
actions and techniques'.

Countries pinpointed as posing a particular threat to the UK because 
of their criminal interests include Turkey, which continues to play a 
pivotal role in the supply and processing of heroin. London-based 
Turks are responsible for disseminating the drug, which is mainly 
cultivated in Afghanistan, to secondary distribution centres, usually 
Liverpool and Birmingham. Most heroin arrives from the ports of 
south-east England such as Harwich, Dover and Felixstowe, with half 
of the UK trade shipped from the Netherlands after being driven 
overland from Turkey.

The Netherlands and Spain remain the main entry points to Europe for 
Colombian cocaine, again with most shipped into the UK via south-east ports.

Armed robberies seeking 'cash-in-transit' targets reached 837 last 
year with the most infamous occurring last February with the 
organised attack on a facility in Tonbridge, Kent, that yielded a 
haul of UKP53m.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman