National Crime Agency (NCA)

Return to News 19 February 2018 A depraved university academic has today been jailed for 38 years after admitting 137 ‘hurt core’ charges. Cambridge University graduate Dr Matthew Falder, who called himself ‘evilmind’ and ‘666devil’ during years of horrific online offending, closed his eyes as he was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court. The geophysicist, 29, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, who is originally from Cheshire, admitted the huge number of counts – which included encouraging the rape of a four-year-old boy – after a tenacious National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation. Falder boasted that he would never be caught and said he did not care if his victims lived or d…

Return to News17 February 2018 Director General statement on UK law enforcement relations with the EU Lynne Owens, Director General of the NCA said: “Since before the referendum, the NCA and its partners in policing and wider law enforcement have clearly stated our need to work closely and at speed with European countries to keep people in the UK safe from threats including organised crime, child sexual abuse, cyber-attack, and terrorism. The ability to work in this manner with our European partners benefits us all, increasing our ability to disrupt criminal activity and protect our citizens from national threats as well as local level volume crime at the heart of our c…

Home News Cyber crook made thousands with testing site for hackers Return to News 15 February 2018 A cyber criminal who ran a product-testing service for hackers has been sentenced to 24 months in prison. Goncalo Esteves, 24, of Cape Close, Colchester, Essex, admitted guilt in January this year following a joint investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and cyber security firm Trend Micro. Esteves (right) ran the website reFUD.me, which allowed offenders to test, for a fee, whether their malicious cyber tools could beat anti-virus scanners. Under the pseudonym KillaMuvz, he also sold custom-made malware-disguising products and offered technical support t…

Return to News9th February 2018 A 36-year-old man who acted as a drugs wholesaler to dealers in the West Midlands has been jailed for 13 years, following an investigation by the joint National Crime Agency (NCA) and Met Police Organised Crime Partnership (OCP). Daljinder Bassi used his house on Stafford Road in Wolverhampton to cut, package and store large quantities of heroin and cocaine before selling it on to dealers in the West Midlands. OCP officers, with support from West Midlands police, arrested him in October 2017 as he drove along the M6 with three kilos of heroin in his car. Officers searching his home found cash and class A drugs in powder, rock and block…

Home News NCA strike against suspected people smugglers Return to News The National Crime Agency (NCA) is carrying out a major operation targeting a suspected people smuggling organised criminal network in the North East, London and the South Coast. The operation is the latest phase of a year-long investigation, which has involved law enforcement colleagues in the UK and in Europe. More than twenty properties have been raided by NCA officers supported by Cleveland, Northumbria, Sussex and Metropolitan Police colleagues, and a number of arrests have been made. The operation is ongoing with searches taking place at several locations including Middlesbrough, Hartlepo…

Return to News5 February 2018 A 25-year old man from Gwent, who boasted he could arrange for a highly toxic synthetic opioid to be shipped anywhere in the world the same day as receiving an order, has been jailed for eight years. Kyle Enos, from Maindee Parade, Newport used the dark web to advertise his business of selling bespoke packages of fentanyl - which is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine - to customers both in the UK and overseas. He ordered varying amounts of fentanyl from illegal distributors in China and once they arrived, he would prepare the packages for his customers and post them out via first class or…

Return to News5 February 2018 A cyber hacking tool that allowed criminals to take full control of victims’ machines is no longer available after an operation co-ordinated by the National Crime Agency. The Luminosity Link RAT (a Remote Access Trojan) enabled hackers to connect to a victim’s machine undetected. They could then disable anti-virus and anti-malware software, carry out commands such as monitoring and recording keystrokes, steal data and passwords, and watch victims via their webcams. The RAT cost as little as £30 and users needed little technical knowledge to deploy it. A small network of UK individuals supported the distribution and use of the RAT across 7…

Home News Two arrested for people smuggling after boat rescue Return to News 31 January 2018 Two men have been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling offences by NCA officers after a boat carrying a group of suspected migrants had to be rescued from the English Channel. It follows a search and rescue operation involving the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the RNLI, Border Force and the NCA off the coast of Sussex. A rigid hull inflatable boat, carrying eight men and one woman, was eventually located and those on board taken by lifeboat to Eastbourne harbour. Six men and the woman, all believed to be Albanian nationals, are being dealt with by Border Force, whil…

Home News Investigation after £50m cocaine seizure at Farnborough Return to News 30 January 2018 Five men are being questioned by National Crime Agency investigators following the seizure of approximately half a tonne of cocaine from a private jet at Farnborough Airport. The drugs were discovered in suitcases by Border Force officers who carried out checks on an incoming flight from Bogota, Colombia. The aircraft had been chartered from a private company. Five passengers on board the flight, two British men, two Spanish men and an Italian were arrested on suspicion of importing class A drugs. Three addresses in the Bournemouth area have been searched by the N…

Return to News26 January 2018 A man who told a chatroom for sharing indecent images of children that “true pedos love boys and girls” has been jailed following an NCA investigation. Raymond Taylor, 45, of Reading, streamed recorded images to the chat room and discussed his abuse fantasies with users. He was sentenced to four years in prison at Reading Crown Court, having pleaded guilty to 11 counts of making, and eight of distributing, indecent images of children. Taylor was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offenders register for life. Computer devices found during searches of Taylor’s house included a mobile phone hidden in t…

Return to News26 January 2018 A 42-year-old former primary school teacher has been jailed for two years and nine months after being found guilty of making and distributing thousands of indecent images of children (IIOC). National Crime Agency officers arrested Matthew Sephton, also a former Trafford Councillor representing Altrincham, in December 2016 and seized his phones and computer. Forensic examination of the devices showed that Sephton had searched for and downloaded thousands of IIOC, some of which were in the worst category possible. On one of his phones was a chat application through which Sephton was a member of various groups dedicated to sharing child abus…

Return to News25 January 2018 A 52-year-old man has been jailed for 17 years for attempting to smuggle £3.96 million worth of cocaine into the UK hidden in a horsebox, following a joint investigation by the National Crime Agency and Dutch police. Border Force officers worked with the NCA to stop Dutch national, Marinus Van Gerwen, as he arrived at Dover Eastern Docks driving a horsebox on 13 July 2017. Officers searching the vehicle found 50 one kilo blocks of cocaine hidden in a purpose-built concealment in the wall. The cocaine had an estimated street value of £3.96 million. There were also two horses in the back which were collected by a horse transportation compan…

Return to News24 January 2018 A former airline steward caught with a kilo of heroin at Manchester airport has been jailed for eight years following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation. Zohaab Sadique, 30, of Oldham, flew to Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight in January last year and picked up the drugs. He smuggled them back on the return flight, during which he served food and drink to business class passengers. Caught on CCTV He was arrested shortly after landing when Border Force officers and a detector dog carried out checks on the cabin crew, including a search of the bus that transferred them from the plane to the terminal. The officers found a white …

Home News People smugglers used horse box to sneak migrants into UK Return to News 19 January 2018 Two men who were part of a crime group which smuggled migrants into the UK have been jailed following an investigation by the National Crime Agency. Stephen Gardner, 31, originally from Beccles in Suffolk but living in Spain, used his international horse transportation business as a cover for the venture, hiding at least three people in his vehicle and bringing them into the UK from France on 21 May 2016. He was moving four horses from Europe to the UK at the same time. The people smuggling attempt was organised by Saleh Khaled Farhan, 44, a UK citizen of Kuwaiti…

Return to News19 January 2018 A former nurse today became the sixth man sentenced for offences committed in an internet chatroom where users watched a live broadcast of a child being raped. Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) identified Michael Brown, 49, of St Neots, Cambridgeshire, and five others following an investigation into the broadcast. Today he was sentenced to 4 years at Cambridge Crown Court after admitting three counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting the showing of indecent images of children. He will also subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and has been placed on the sex offenders register. Brown, who worked at Hitch…