Latest news with #NCA
The Sun
a day ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Britain on verge of signing returns deal with Iraq to thwart small boats crisis
BRITAIN is on the verge of signing a returns deal with Iraq to thwart the small boats crisis. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to be in the final stages of negotiations to help break up people smuggling gangs. 1 Iraqi Kurds have been one of the biggest obstacles to tackling the problem which has seen numbers continuously ramp up since 2018. The proposed deal comes after Sir Keir Starmer struck a ' one in, one out ' deal with France last week to help reduce numbers. But more than 22,000 migrants have already made the perilous journey this year. The deal will help return the number of migrants making the C hannel crossings and failed asylum seekers back to Baghdad. It had been hoped that the deal could have been signed off this month but an Iraqi delegation has delayed their visit, the Sunday Times said. The agreement, expected to be finalised at the end of the summer, would allow UK authorities to detain and then send migrants back to Iraq more easily. The National Crime Agency has been drafted in to try and stop the bosses of the smuggling gangs from bringing migrants to Britain. Bosses from Britain's so-called FBI are understood to have established a presence with the Kurdish authorities. Boats and engines are also been closely monitored with sniffer dogs from the UK being deployed between Turkey and Bulgaria to find rubber dinghies being used in the crossings. Rob Jones, the NCA boss head of operations, said he was targeting areas where kingpins thought they were 'untouchable'. But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told Sky News that it was 'absolutely ludicrous' to think the deal with France would have any impact. He said: "This deal will only see about 6% of illegal immigrants who arrive in the UK getting returned to France, and the idea that therefore 94% can stay here is going to have any effect is absolutely ludicrous.' "Of course, if 94% of illegal immigrants who cross can stay in the UK, that is no deterrent whatsoever.' The Prime Minister will hold talks this week with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as he called illegal migration "a global problem".
Leaders
a day ago
- Science
- Leaders
Islamic Affairs Ministry Holds Religious Course in Malé, Maldives
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance is conducting a scientific course in Malé, the capital of the Maldives, from July 12 to 14. The course aims to clarify the core principles of authentic Islamic belief and is part of a larger academic initiative to promote sound doctrinal understanding, along with the values of moderation and tolerance. Related Topics: NCA Launches Interactive Cybersecurity Awareness Exhibition for Hajj Pilgrims Saudi Arabia Named 'Country of the Year' After Record-Breaking Leap in StartupBlink Index Haramain Railway Boosts Hajj 2025 Capacity by 25% Operation Gideon Chariots: Israel Intensifies War amid Dire Conditions in Gaza Short link :
Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Times
On the trail of gangsters who get rich smuggling migrants to Britain
Hidden behind a row of shops is Stefano Road, a quiet residential street on the outskirts of Preston. It seems an unlikely place to find a criminal mastermind. That was until May last year, when officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) arrived to detain Amanj Hassan Zada, a 34-year-old Iraqi Kurd. Zada kept a low profile in Lancashire but in his native Kurdistan he was widely regarded as one of the region's most successful traffickers, running a vast, international people-smuggling operation. At a party in Iraq in 2021, he had been filmed showering musicians with cash and firing a gun in the air as they lauded his exploits as the 'best smuggler'. His profligacy ultimately proved his undoing. In Britain, the NCA started recording his conversations with other smugglers. From these intercepts, they were able to piece together a highly sophisticated enterprise centred on ferrying migrants across the English Channel in small boats that stretched across Europe and back to Iraq. It marked the first time the NCA had gone after the kingpins 'upstream' — outside the UK — having been tasked to 'smash the gangs' as one of Sir Keir Starmer's key election pledges. Since then the Home Office has drawn up an internal list of several dozen most wanted people smugglers whose capture they believe would disrupt the criminal gangs. After Zada was jailed for 17 years in November, NCA officers travelled to Iraq to help arrest three of his accomplices. One was a banker providing hawala services, the trust-based payment system commonly used by illegal migrants. A second man, also living on Stefano Road, has been charged with assisting Zada and is awaiting trial. Through a new pact with Iraq, the NCA is also now working regularly with the Kurdish regional authorities and is understood to have a permanent presence in the region. In Libya, NCA intelligence has also contributed to a number of arrests. Zada's network, though, was merely a cog in a machine that spans continents. Experts now liken the small boats trade to the multibillion-pound drugs trade, where key players are quickly replaced by new opportunists should they be captured. On Thursday — the day that Starmer announced his latest 'one in, one out' deal with President Macron — 573 migrants arrived from France, taking the total to have crossed the Channel in small boats this year to 21,690. Another 353 arrived on Friday. Each would have paid about £2,500 to secure passage, meaning that in total their traffickers netted more than £1.4 million from Thursday alone. This summer, they can expect many more paydays like it. For years, smugglers largely trafficked illegal migrants into the UK by concealing them in trucks, cars and ferries. Migrants tended to rely on smugglers of their own nationality, with no single group wielding control on the French coast. This began to change from 2015 onwards, as an influx of migrants fleeing civil war and persecution in Syria and sub-Saharan Africa headed for Britain led to heightened security checks. Initially, the smugglers shifted to riskier methods, such as stowing migrants in refrigerated lorries. But use of this route significantly decreased after 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in the back of an HGV in Grays, Essex, in 2019. Seizing their opportunity, Kurdish smugglers began experimenting with small boats across the Channel, their passengers predominantly refugees from Iraq and Iran, with growing numbers of Syrians and Afghans following later. The Kurds quickly established dominance over the key embarkation points, often through the use of violence, spreading from Calais eastwards to Dunkirk and then on to Zeebrugge in Belgium. By the end of 2023, the French authorities estimated there were approximately 30 smuggling networks in place along the coast. According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (Gitoc), an independent research institute based in Geneva, these Kurdish gangs carved up territory according to their members' home turf; smugglers from Ranya in Iraqi Kurdistan, close to the Iranian border, now control large swathes of the coast around Calais and Dunkirk. Ranya's inhabitants are known for their involvement in the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime, and one of Europe's most notorious people-smugglers hails from a town in the same province. Last year Barzan Majeed, known as Scorpion, was arrested by Kurdish officials after a major two-year international police operation to search out and destroy his gang, until then the most powerful smuggling gang operating between the UK and the continent. Albanian criminal networks began to enter the market from 2021, and with them came thousands of illegal migrants from the country. However, experts believe they still ultimately answer to the Kurds. • Chaos, corruption and the cruel sea: inside Europe's migrant crisis A Chatham House report from 2024 notes that the Kurds' dominance is likely to come down to a combination of geography, history and ongoing instability in the region. Kurdistan, whose people have long pushed for independence, straddles northern Iraq, northern Syria, southern Turkey and northwestern Iran. In Iraqi Kurdistan, conflict, corruption and high levels of poverty are likely to be contributing factors — as well as the region's location: it lies along some of the key overland migrant routes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Iran. By 2022, the number of people reaching British shores on flimsy dinghies had surged to 42,755, up from 299 just four years earlier. Economies of scale ensured that the cost fell: the price of a place on board — between £2,500 and £4,000 per person — is now a fraction of what it costs to be smuggled into the UK in a lorry. Within the space of eight years the small boats trade has exploded, bringing more than 170,000 people across the Channel. Over that period, 247 have drowned. Evidence suggests that the small boat gangs are typically comprised of up to 12 individuals, with the kingpin, often Kurdish, overseeing the operation from overseas, either in their native country or, as with Zada, in a western one. They often have a trusted lieutenant more heavily involved in running the routes. The people-smugglers also have trusted handlers dotted along the route in countries such as Libya and Turkey. In France, several members of the network will act as guides, steering the migrants to the coast. Others will be charged with logistics and delivering the boats and fuel to the launch point on the beaches. The remainder operate as guards, scouting the area for rivals, the French police and border guards. Albanian smugglers have also moved into northern France, but often only as middlemen or clients of Kurdish overlords, who still make the big decisions around boat departures. With the large influx of Eritrean and Afghan migrants now seeking passage along the coast, growing numbers from those countries can also now be found working for Kurdish gangs. More recently, the gangs have stepped up a new gear thanks to an extra contingent of 'small hands'. These are migrants who help to recruit passengers from their own nationality or ethnicity for the gangs, as well as prepare the boats for launch. Some are given free passage to the UK in exchange, but increasingly the small hands are starting to charge for their services. Gitoc's fieldwork suggests the fee can be £800 to £1,200 per boat filled, with some small hands now making so much money — up to £8,500 a month — that they are choosing to remain on the French coast rather than crossing to the UK to work in low-paid black market jobs. These middlemen are increasingly pivotal to the function of the trade — so much so that the NCA has advised ministers that taking them out could be easier and more disruptive than targeting the kingpins. 'The thing you've got to remember about the gangs is they are very agile,' said Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, describing their operation as like Whac-A-Mole, where shutting down one network leads only to another ramping up its activities. 'As long as there is demand, like the illicit drugs trade, there will be people looking to make money out of it, because it is a huge business. It operates on established principles in that way.' The small boats trade relies on a web of payments and international money transfers that are notoriously difficult for law enforcement to trace and disrupt. There are a vast array of payment and travel options for migrants seeking passage to Britain. Some will pay the full fee upfront in France or their home country; others half and half, with 'bag men' in the UK collecting the remaining fees on behalf of the gangs over the Channel. Among Vietnamese migrants, there are examples of individuals making only a small down payment on the proviso that they enter bonded debt on arriving in the UK, often by working in cannabis farms and nail bars. 'The method of payment depends on the smugglers,' Solomon explains. 'Some want an upfront down payment and then a proportion paid later. But invariably now the gangs are requiring upfront payments.' The more established Kurdish gangs also offer a package deal, providing transit from a migrant's country of origin all the way to the French coast — and even false passports, often made in Turkey. On Telegram, the encrypted social media app commonly used by drug dealers and smugglers, there have been examples of gangs advertising transit for Iranians and Iraqis via Turkey and Belarus to Germany for as little as £6,900. Migrants will often make hawala payments during several legs of the journey. In this informal, trust-based system — commonly used by Iranians, Iraqis, Sudanese and Afghans — money passes up a chain of trusted money handlers (hawaladars) without any actual cash crossing borders. Payments can be made to one person and then taken out by another further up the chain. The hawaladars, who do business outside the conventional banking system, are stationed across the routes, including near coastal camps in France. Some small-boat migrants have told reporters they were given different options of where to pay — Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey — before being linked up with the appropriate handler. This system offers flexibility to the migrants, while allowing the smugglers to amass profits without leaving a paper trail. However, specialist money transfer services such as Western Union — commonly used by migrants to send remittances back home — are also thought to be used. 'This isn't just smuggling gangs operating across the Channel, it's people operating through the Middle East, north Africa and Europe,' Solomon said. 'It's very difficult to take down this kind of operation in a way that will result in a dramatic reduction in people taking these dangerous journeys.' Where the profits from the trade go is largely unknown, but what is clear is that they are growing — rapidly. Xavier Delrieu, the senior official in the French interior ministry responsible for tackling small boats, estimates that in 2022 alone the gangs would have made £130 million. There is also some evidence that the bosses are seeking to reinvest the proceeds in land and property in their home countries, while others are thought to be diversifying into drugs and arms trafficking. The supply of readily available rigid inflatable boats (ribs) has dwindled as a result of a deliberate crackdown in Europe, so smugglers are increasingly sourcing cheap craft and engines from thousands of miles away in China. At about £8,500 each, including delivery, the boats are often smuggled into Turkey in containers and then brought to Europe — typically Germany, Belgium or the Netherlands — where they are then packed into vans and SUVs and driven to the French coast. Germany was until recently the key transit hub, with asylum seekers there often paid thousands of pounds to transport the boats to France. Relatively tiny outlays on equipment allow the gangs to extract staggering profits: a boat carrying 50 migrants can net them £100,000 per trip. Last year, one smuggler told Sky News that he had made just under £700,000 from launching a dozen dinghies. • Migrant Channel crossings hit a record 20,000 in six months However, this supply chain is vulnerable to disruption from international law enforcement — and it is here that the NCA and its European partners appear to be securing tangible results. In November 2022 the NCA launched Operation Punjum, a series of dawn raids run in tandem with hundreds of officers from Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany, to dismantle a major boat network. It resulted in dozens of arrests and hundreds of boat seizures. This co-operation has since stepped up further, with the NCA now monitoring the movement of boats and engines across Europe (it will not say where, in case the smugglers then change their tactics) through covert tracking devices. On the Turkey-Bulgaria border, sniffer dogs trained by the agency to detect the smell of hidden dinghies are also being used to patrol key checkpoints. With its partners, the agency says it has seized 650 boats since 2023. However, this success may have inadvertently created a new headache. With boats harder to procure and the smugglers seeking ever greater profits, the number of migrants being squeezed on to them has risen dramatically in recent years. While some of this can be explained by smugglers acquiring larger boats, more often it is because they are dangerously overloading them. In 2021 the French border police reported an average of 27 people occupying each vessel. Four years on, in March, the Home Office in Britain reported the average number per boat had doubled to 54. There have even been cases of 70 people, including women and children, being crammed on to a single boat. With Starmer under mounting political pressure to get a grip on illegal migration, a three-pronged strategy for dealing with the boats is finally cranking into action. So far the NCA has been involved in more than 190 arrests in the UK and overseas relating to organised immigration crime in 2024-25, although it is unclear how many kingpins it has been able to take down. Rob Jones, director-general of operations at the NCA, told The Sunday Times: 'Much of the criminality involved in organised immigration crime lies outside the UK. We target and disrupt organised crime groups at every step of the route, in source countries, in transit countries such as Greece, Italy, north Africa and Turkey, near the UK border in France and Belgium, and those operating inside the UK itself. 'We have expanded our international footprint and targeted criminals operating in places where they previously thought they were untouchable, including recent arrests in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Libya.' Back in Westminster, ministers are pushing through legislation they argue will finally confer on enforcement agencies the counterterrorism-style powers they need to bring down the gangs. Under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, officers will be able to intervene as soon as they find evidence of gangs preparing to smuggle migrants to the UK. This includes those suspected of selling or handling parts for small boats, or who are collecting information for gangs to help arrange departure points, times and dates. The Home Office argues that had these rules been in place when Zada was active, the NCA already had enough evidence of him discussing moving migrants and purchasing vessels to have arrested him. For the gangs operating in France, it will allow the UK to request the arrest of a people-smuggler at an earlier stage. Under other provisions, migrants who endanger lives at sea will face jail sentences of up to five years. These measures are primarily targeted at the middlemen and gang enforcers who intimidate or coerce migrants onto the boats, but its application could extend to migrants refusing to be rescued or who impede others on board their dinghy. The third prong of the strategy centres on diplomacy: convincing European states and countries of origin to allow Britain to return illegal migrants and failed asylum seekers. The UK has struck more than 20 such arrangements, some better than others. After a new deal with Albania in 2022, the UK managed to send back 6,000 migrants in just 12 months. A previously huge spike in arrivals from Albania also fell dramatically. Having secured a pilot agreement with France last week, Starmer now hopes to strike a 'full-fat' returns deal by the end of this summer with Iraq, in what is likely to be the most significant arrangement made since the one with Albania. In 2024 more than 2,000 small-boat migrants came from Iraq. The deal has been worked on behind closed doors for months, with Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, holding talks with Iraq's interior minister during a border security summit at Lancaster House in London in March. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. The operation to arrest Zada was only possible thanks to a UK-Iraq security pact negotiated by Cooper in November focused on disrupting the Kurdish gangs that dominate the small boats trade along France's northern coast. However, even if these strategies succeed, there are few experts who believe the small boat gangs can be eradicated entirely. 'As long as there is conflict and violence around the world … then the gangs will inevitably still be able to operate, because there is a supply of people willing to pay for their business when legal routes don't exist,' said Solomon. 'There is no one magic bullet and therefore the risk is that smashing the gangs quickly becomes an empty slogan unless it's combined with other measures. 'In many ways you need to be a bit more honest about the complexity of the challenge you are facing. The risk is that it's seen to be overpromising and underdelivering.'
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Shehzad Akbar named key accused in £190m reference case
Listen to article Former Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) chief and ex-special assistant to the prime minister on accountability, Shehzad Akbar, has been identified as a central figure in the ongoing £190 million reference case, according to investigative sources. They alleged that Akbar acted as the mastermind behind an illegal scheme that caused significant financial losses to Pakistan. As part of the investigation, it was revealed that Akbar signed a Deed of Confidentiality on November 6 2019, ahead of the formal approval of the ARU's restructuring and a key cabinet meeting — a move investigators cite as evidence of bad faith. According to the findings, the £190 million — part of a civil settlement with the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) — was diverted to a "designated account" in the name of the Registrar of the Supreme Court. The amount was originally held in the responsibility account of a major private housing society in Karachi. The agreement was also signed by co-accused Ziaul Mustafa Naseem. Investigators stated the funds were falsely portrayed as being transferred to an official account of the State of Pakistan, while in reality, they were redirected to benefit a private entity. Records show that Akbar travelled to the United Kingdom twice in 2019 — from February 4 to 8 and again from May 22 to 26 — where he reportedly met with the UK Home Secretary and the Director General of the NCA. During these meetings, he allegedly negotiated a secret road map for the repatriation of funds. Read More: PTI's Shahzad Akbar departs for Dubai Officials claim Akbar deliberately excluded key Pakistani institutions such as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the State Bank of Pakistan from the decision-making process. This, sources argue, led to substantial financial loss to the Supreme Court and diverted nearly £190 million (approximately Rs50 billion) away from the state. Sources further revealed that even before cabinet approval, criminal proceeds were transferred from the UK to Pakistan in late November 2019. The move came following a high-level meeting on March 2, 2019 involving Akbar, then prime minister Imran Khan, and principal secretary Azam Khan. The discussion reportedly focused on a settlement with the NCA and the repatriation of funds. Akbar allegedly overstepped the jurisdiction of the ARU and, in coordination with the then-prime minister, concealed critical facts from the cabinet. Despite presenting the agreement to the cabinet on December 3, 2019, he had already signed the confidential deed on November 6. According to UK authorities, the NCA had frozen around £120 million before December 14, 2018 under the UK Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The funds were seized based on suspicion against two Pakistani nationals and related investigations into assets, including the prime London property at 1 Hyde Park Place. The ARU had reportedly reached a settlement with the housing society on March 13 and 21, 2019, under application No 8758. The respondents offered an out-of-court settlement with the NCA and their legal representatives. The Supreme Court, in March 2019, imposed heavy fines and conditionally suspended criminal proceedings related to the case. Investigators say Akbar played a pivotal role in misusing authority, acting in bad faith, and concealing corruption-related funds. As a result, legal action continues, with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other authorities conducting inquiries. Akbar has since been declared a proclaimed offender in the case. What is the £190 million case? The case alleges that Imran Khan and others involved adjusted Rs50 billion—equivalent to £190 million at the time—that was transferred by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government. As PM, Imran Khan obtained cabinet approval for this settlement on December 3, 2019, without disclosing the confidential details of the agreement. The arrangement had stipulated that the funds would be submitted to the Supreme Court. According to NAB officials, Imran and his wife received land worth billions of rupees intended for the construction of an educational institute. NAB filed the reference on December 1, 2023 against eight accused persons including Imran and his wife. The court on January 6, 2024 declared the rest of six accused proclaimed offenders as they did not face the trial and escaped to foreign countries. Read More: Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi indicted in Toshakhana 2.0 case The court indicted Imran and Bushra on February 27, 2024. The prosecution presented 35 witnesses, whom the defence later cross-examined. Key witnesses in the case included PM's former principal secretary Azam Khan, former defence minister Pervez Khattak and former federal minister Zubaida Jalal. Three different judges presided over the case at various stages of the trial while the final investigative officer, Mian Umar Nadeem, was cross-examined after 38 hearings. The accountability court provided the accused 15 opportunities to complete their statements under Section 342. However, no witnesses were presented by the defence.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
UK hails 'groundbreaking collaboration' with CBI to bust Noida fraud call centre
By Aditi Khanna The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) on Friday revealed details of a "groundbreaking collaboration" with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alongside American teams to bust a fraud call centre scam operating from Noida and involving several victims in Britain. The NCA said the international investigation commenced early last year after its International Liaison Officers in the US received information from tech giant Microsoft, which was then compared with City of London Police's Action Fraud Reports. The NCA officers and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Attache in Delhi shared their intelligence with the CBI, leading to "urgent action" and the arrest of two individuals. "The activity followed 18 months of groundbreaking collaboration between the CBI, NCA, the FBI and Microsoft - who worked together to identify the organised crime group, analyse data and target complex IT infrastructure used by fraudsters," the NCA said in a statement. "Victims in the UK alone are believed to have lost over GBP 390,000... More than 100 UK victims had been contacted by a group offering to fix their computers for a fee, following a screen pop up that suggested their device was infected or had been hacked. In reality, the fraudsters were posing as employees of Microsoft, offering software solutions to an attack that had never taken place," it stated. After the NCA identified that the same call centre was targeting US citizens, a partnership was agreed to share intelligence and information. It emerged that the criminals behind the scam used a wide range of tactics to try and disguise their identity - spoofed phone numbers or Voice Over Internet Protocol to route calls through multiple servers in several countries. "This case demonstrates the success we can have when we harness expertise from across the public and private sectors, and work hand in hand with partners abroad to target fraudsters, wherever they are," said Nick Sharp, Deputy Director of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC). "It is an outstanding example of the value of the operational arrangement reached between the UK and the US last year specifically to tackle call centre fraud ," he said. The NCA, FBI and Microsoft went on to identify a number of key suspects based in India and compiled a file of evidence that included testimonies from victims, supported by the City of London Police. Earlier this year during an NCA visit to India, the CBI was briefed as part of efforts to enhance ongoing work to tackle the global threat from fraud. The NCA reiterated it will continue to support the CBI to ensure justice for UK victims. "Public-private partnerships are crucial to tackling tech support fraud as law enforcement and tech companies see different aspects of the cybercrime ecosystem. By joining forces and sharing our insights, we're able to more effectively dismantle fraudulent networks and protect vulnerable populations," said Steven Masada, Assistant General Counsel for Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit. Tor Garnett, Commander for Cyber and Economic Crime at the City of London Police, said the force was committed to continuing joint efforts to ensure fraud criminals are brought to justice. "As the national lead force for fraud, we know that combating this type of crime requires a truly collaborative approach. This operation demonstrates the strength of our partnerships - not just across UK law enforcement, but internationally and with private sector organisations," said Garnett. UK Fraud Minister Lord David Hanson said: "As we've seen in this case, tackling fraud needs global action, and that's why international cooperation such as the new UNODC-INTERPOL Global Fraud Summit, is an important way to share knowledge and catch these criminals." "I would like to express my gratitude to US and Indian partners for their collaboration in this operation," he added. PTI
