'Bigger threat than terrorism’ – NCA reveal rapid rise of organized crime
Serious and organized crime “kills more of our citizens than terrorism” and any other threat combined, which costs the UK economy £37bn a year, The National Crime Agency (NCA) has revealed.
The head of the NCA, Lynne Owens, has told senior police chiefs at a conference in central London, the threat of serious and organized crime has rapidly increased, which cause more deaths than any other national security threat, The Independent reports.
Owens told those assembled: “The threat from serious and organized crime has changed rapidly, increasing in both volume and complexity. We know that it now affects more UK citizens, more often, than any other national security threat.
“We know that it leads to more deaths in the UK each year than all other national security threats combined. It kills more of our citizens than terrorism, war and natural disasters combined.”
According to a NCA assessment, there are some 4,600 serious and organized crime gangs in the UK. The Home Office say they operate using violence and intimidation on some of the most vulnerable in UK communities, including victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.
Earlier this year an organized crime gang consisting of nine men were jailed for a total of 87 years after a police investigation into drugs, violence and firearms offenses. The gang included cocaine dealer Mark Richardson, as well as British soldier turned gun-runner Martyn Fitzsimmons.
The police probe into the gang uncovered "a sophisticated web" of offenses. The catalog of crimes included what was described by the judge as the “brutal and merciless” torture of a man, over an unpaid cocaine debt and a huge stash of weapons found hidden in a car.
It comes as the UK government releases a new serious and organized crime strategy on Thursday, that it says will target the most determined and dangerous offenders.
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