UK’s new crime-fighting agency to work with Turkey

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Pedestrians walk past the National Crime Agency (NCA) headquarters in London Oct 7. The new body has been launched to pursue organised criminals. REUTERS photo

The U.K.’s newest crime-fighting agency, the National Crime Agency (NCA) is set to operate in tackling criminals all around the world, with a special emphasis attached to Turkey.

“The NCA will work with its Turkish partners to tackle threats including drug trafficking and illegal migrants, with Turkey’s location straddling both Europe and Asia presenting particular challenges,” the British Embassy in Ankara said in a statement released on Oct. 7. “The new agency will build on its already strong relationship between law enforcement in the U.K. and Turkey,” the Embassy added.

4,000 specialists

Kicking off immediately, the NCA will use more than 4,000 specialist crime fighters to tackle some of the most organized criminals, stretching across 150 countries.

The agency will work with overseas partners to tackle organized crime groups in-country, share intelligence on joint threats and targets, and intercept people, property and money moving to and from the U.K.

“Tackling serious and organized crime goes way beyond the shores of the United Kingdom. Some of the biggest threats to the national security of countries around the globe come from individuals and crime groups who globally cost us billions of pounds every year and ruin lives and communities. These people must be stopped, and the NCA will lead the U.K.’s law enforcement role at an international level,” Director of Border Policing Command for the NCA David Armond said.

The new agency will have a much wider remit than its predecessors, with an additional focus on cybercrime, fraud and economic crime, alongside the more familiar types of serious and organized criminal activity such as drugs, child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and firearms.

The agency estimates there are some 37,000 individuals spread across 5,500 groups involved in organised crime in Britain, with the annual cost of fraud from such gangs amounting to almost 9 billion pounds ($14.6 billion).