Child sex exploitation fuels organised crime
AT LEAST 350,000 people are now involved in serious and organised crime in Britain – the majority with a sexual interest in children, it was revealed yesterday
The National Crime Agency – Britain’s FBI – said at least 300,000 of the high-ranking UK felons were perverts as the scale of online offending rockets.
It also said the economic cost to the UK was a “grossly underestimated” £37billion a year.
A top-level NCA report found losses from fraud increased by 38 per cent to £2.2billion last year.
Meanwhile, armed offending continued to increase, cocaine consumption has risen by nearly 300 per cent since 2011 and heroin purity levels now stand at a 10-year high.
Migrants intercepted trying to enter the UK illegally increased while criminal gangs facilitating them continued to use high-risk smuggling methods, shockingly laid bare when 39 Vietnamese nationals died after being found concealed in a refrigerated lorry in Grays, Essex, in October.
Criminals were also exploiting technology to communicate, commit and hide their crimes. Every one of the current NCA investigations has encountered some form of encryption.
NCA director general Lynne Owens said its report “demonstrates how this threat is continuing to grow in scale and complexity”.
She continued: “Based on our improved understanding we estimate there to be at least 350,000 individuals in the UK engaged in serious and organised crime.
“These criminals are diversifying into multiple crime types, increasing their reliance on the services of corrupt insiders and continuing to use the UK’s financial systems to mask illicit finance and launder profits.
“At the same time, it has never been clearer that serious and organised crime is an international threat that disregards borders.
“Serious and organised crime continues to kill more people than any other national security threat and has a corrosive impact on the UK and its citizens.
“Each of us is affected by it in some way. As a result, each and every one of us has a role in fighting it.”
The NCA said there were 4,772 known organised crime groups operating in the UK, a quarter involved in violent criminal activity.
Two-fifths of the groups are non-British.
Of major concern is the exploitation of young people who are intimidated into becoming runners in county lines drug supply, or groomed into money mules helping criminals to launder their profits.
The NCA said children as young as 11 were being exploited by the criminals.