Sacked, crime fighter who sold off vital spying ‘asset’
‘Standards fell well short’
A TOP UK National Crime Agency official in the Caribbean has been sacked for gross misconduct. Annie Norris, who was based at the British High Commission in Barbados, was fired after an inquiry into the sale of a high-value ‘covert asset’ used to spy on drug traffickers.
She faced an internal inquiry into claims she misused resources at the UK’s version of the FBI. This included claims she sold the NCA-owned surveillance asset to a friend at a discounted price and ran up huge roaming bills on her agency mobile phone, said sources.
The Daily Mail is not identifying the intelligence-gathering resource at the centre of the controversy so as not to compromise future anti-narcotics missions or potentially put operatives’ lives at risk. In a statement, the NCA said it ‘expects the highest standards and integrity from all its officers’ but Miss Norris’s conduct ‘fell well short’.
As the NCA’s top official in the Eastern Caribbean, Miss Norris was at the forefront of its fight against drug traffickers passing through local waters.
Her role as regional international liaison manager saw her earn around £65,000 and play a crucial role in the ‘counter narcotics initiative’ against shipments from Colombia and Venezuela to the UK.
Her glamorous posting in Barbados – which saw her live in a three-bedroom grace and favour property on the island and rub shoulders with diplomats – ended abruptly pending disciplinary proceedings.
After several months on restricted duties, she was fired for gross misconduct after a tribunal last week.
An ex-colleague of Miss Norris said: ‘She was the first woman to have the position [of regional international liaison manager]. She seemed very ordinary, didn’t appear flashy.’
They added: ‘Traffickers use the region as a trans-shipment point to get narcotics to the UK. Annie was here to manage that initiative. She was pivotal to it.’
An NCA spokesman said it ‘does not routinely confirm or deny the identity of officers subject to complaints or disciplinary hearings’.
He added: ‘However, the agency can confirm that, following an internal investigation, an officer has been dismissed for gross misconduct. The offences related to the sale of agency property and the use of a phone.’