National Crime Agency (NCA)

Return to News The use of live streaming platforms by online sex offenders is increasing and there is an urgent need to educate children about the risks associated with this new threat, warn child protection experts. During a recent week of intensification to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse, police and NCA operations across the UK safeguarded 245 children and arrested 192 people, 18 of whom were in a position of trust. 30% of those cases involved some of the highest harm offences including live streaming, blackmail and grooming. National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Child Protection, Chief Constable Simon Bailey, said: "In just one week, police …

Return to News4 December 2017 Eight men have been jailed for a total of almost 44 years for their roles in an organised crime group involved in the wholesale supply of cocaine across London and South West England. The group, run by Albanian national Lulezim Zefi, 36, used professional couriers to transport and distribute drugs in vehicles fitted with highly sophisticated concealments. Top, left to right: Lulelim Zefi, Admir Simeqi, Kamel Safieddine, Gergi Marku. Bottom, left to right: Admir Bici, Ramadan Doci, Valentin Malocaj, Valon Bajgora Four of his couriers were arrested by officers from the NCA and Metropolitan Police Service’s Organised Crime Partnership (OC…

Home News Drug dealer pretended to be construction worker Return to News Three people have been sentenced to a total of 36 years’ imprisonment after the seizure of 28 kilos of heroin and cocaine in London. Ibrahim Miah (25), Samsul Ali (26) both from Stepney, London and Andrea Kidd (49) from Milton Keynes, were arrested in June 2017 by officers from the joint National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service’s Organised Crime Partnership (OCP). They were arrested when officers found seven kilos of cocaine in Kidd’s car after watching Miah and Ali place a bag there. A further 21 kilos of cocaine and heroin were recovered when officers searched premises linked …

Home News Pilot dropped cocaine worth £2.5m from plane into field in Kent Return to News 1 December 2017 A Belgian pilot who dropped cocaine worth around £2.5 million from a light aircraft into a field in Kent has been jailed for 14 years. Rudi Sels, 65, from Balen, near Antwerp, plotted with three British men to identify prospective landing and drop off sites in Kent. He was seen meeting with two of them in a pub in Rochester and then went on to carry out a recce of a location. They were unaware that they were under surveillance by the National Crime Agency. On 23 June 2016 officers from the Belgian Federal Judicial Police watched as Sels loaded his plane. It …

Return to News28 November 2017 A child sex offender who shared indecent images of children in an online chat room has been jailed following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA). Jon Page, 46, used the screen name wolfpupjohn as he shared and discussed indecent images of children and extreme pornography. NCA officers found messages in which Page responded enthusiastically to a fantasy about rape and necrophilia involving children. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison at Southwark Crown Court yesterday after admitting 22 offences relating to indecent images of children, drug possession and bestiality. NCA officers first arrested him at hi…

Return to News28 November 2018 The NCA has published an update on the drug dealing model known as County Lines. Download the update from our Publications section. It is the NCA’s third assessment of this criminal methodology, which involves networks from urban centres expanding their drug dealing activities into smaller towns and rural areas, often exploiting young or otherwise vulnerable people to do so. Dealers will usually use a single phone line to facilitate the supply of class A drugs – primarily heroin and crack cocaine - to customers. The line becomes a recognised and valuable brand and is therefore protected with violence and intimidation. The 2017 report bri…

Home News Sex offender had more than 20,000 images of child abuse on computer Return to News 27 November 2017 A Belfast man who had more than 20,000 images of child abuse on his computer has been jailed following a joint National Crime Agency-PSNI investigation. The material held by Ramsay Pennycook, 39, of Hollywood, Belfast, included items in the most serious category for child abuse images. Pennycook was today sentenced at Downpatrick Crown Court to six months in jail and 18 months on licence. We was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and given a five-year sexual harm prevention order. Pennycook was convicted of making and possessing indec…

Return to News24 November 2017 Four people, including an airport security worker, are being questioned in connection with a seizure of approximately seven kilos of cocaine at Heathrow, in a joint operation involving the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service. The employee, a 30-year-old man from Southall, west London, and a 37-year-old man from Colombia were arrested in a Terminal 5 airside toilet by NCA officers at around 3.30pm yesterday (23 November). Packages containing the cocaine were recovered from the scene. The man from Colombia had recently stepped off a flight from Bogota. Separately, a 43-year-old man was arrested in the airport arrivals are…

Return to News24 November 2017 Two brothers who stole upgrade information from a mobile phone network were found guilty after National Crime Agency (NCA) officers traced the theft to their computers. Between 18 October and 11 November 2016 Scott Pullen, 41, of Manchester (pictured top), and John Pullen, 48, of Kent (pictured below), used automated software to sweep Three’s database and steal data on upgrades. Scott Pullen, whose job as a data merchant was to find sales leads for phone companies, tried to get ahead of his competitors by illegally accessing Three’s data. John Pullen made the automated tool which let Scott mine Three’s systems for information. NCA o…

Home News Belfast man had child abuse stash Return to News 24 November 2017 A man who downloaded indecent images of children has been placed on the sex offenders register following a joint National Crime Agency (NCA) and PSNI investigation. Rory Campbell, 21, of Belfast, was arrested at his home in June 2016 and admitted to officers that he was guilty of viewing images of child abuse. Officers who examined his computers found 560 images and videos on Campbell’s devices, 53 of which were in the most serious category for such material. Today he appeared at Belfast Crown Court and was placed on probation for two years, placed on the sex offenders register for ten…

Return to News21 November 2017 A group of Chinese money launderers paid more than £1.8 million in criminal cash into London high street banks in a period of just two weeks. Fen Chen, 32, her friend Ying Lin, 27, and two associates took bundles of bank notes into dozens of branches between 30 July and 15 August 2016. National Crime Agency officers arrested Chen shortly after she accepted a bag containing more than £300,000 from Albanian Fation Koka, 30, in the car park of an Asda supermarket in Park Royal on 15 August 2016. Another £180,000 cash was discovered in bags and hiding places at Fen’s flat in nearby Bodiam Court, along with bank slips detailing hundreds of de…

Return to News17 November 2017 A man who was using a chatroom when the rape of a six-year-old boy was being live streamed has become the fifth offender to be convicted following a National Crime Agency investigation. Stephen Wilkie, aged 52, from Ealing, who used the chatroom to view indecent images of children, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years. He was given a 60 day rehabilitation order, 100 hours unpaid work, placed on the sex offenders register for ten years, and made subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order at Kingston Crown Court. Adopting usernames, including ‘more’ and ‘mmm’, he made regular visits to the chatroom betwee…

Home News Three men assaulted teenage girl after plying her with alcohol Return to News 16 November 2017 Three men have been found guilty of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 14 following the first trial under Operation Stovewood. Riaz Makhmood (39), Sajid Ali (38) and Zaheer Iqbal (39), all from Masbrough in Rotherham, were convicted of 15 charges against the victim who was twelve and thirteen at the time of the abuse, which took place in 1994 and 1995. Pictured left to right - Makhmood, Ali, Iqbal All three were arrested in July 2016 after the victim, who is now in her thirties, came forward to South Yorkshire Police. She explained how she and f…

Return to News13 November 2017 A pensioner has been sentenced to 40 months in jail after repeatedly trying to engage children in sexual activity. Trevor Rudge, 65, pleaded guilty to 17 charges after a National Crime Agency investigation. When NCA officers arrested him at his home on 6 May 2016, he said: “The stuff I’ve done has been role play, I’ve never met anyone.” Officers discovered the paint salesman had used the Kik social media messenger to send sex messages to people he believed were children. Online, Rudge called himself ‘Older_man-no-Men’. He told one 14-year-old girl “Don’t be afraid of exploring your body,” and “touch yourself, pretend it is me”. He sai…

Return to News10 November 2017 Operation Pallial, the independent NCA investigation into allegations of past abuse in the care system of North Wales, began in November 2012 at the request of Mark Polin, the Chief Constable of North Wales Police To date there have been nine convictions, including care home owner John Allen who was sentenced to life in prison in December 2014. In the five years the operation has been running, 365 people have made contact with the NCA team. Investigations into the evidence provided by 250 of them have concluded and details provided by 42 complainants are either with the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration of charges, or are part o…