DRUGS FUEL BIG RISE IN ORGANISED CRIME

New Report Shows Gangs Enjoy Easy Access To Guns And Judicial Corruption

Organised crime in the UK is increasing rapidly, with firearms and
drugs easily obtained by underworld syndicates which are also moving
into child pornography to swell profits, a government report reveals tomorrow.

The first analysis of the threat of criminal gangs to the UK by the
Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) adds that corruption remains a
problem in the criminal justice system and that, far from reforming
offenders, prison now forms the 'basis for many later criminal collaborations'.

In an alarming picture of the influence of major crime networks, the
report admits the internet and the skill of syndicates in keeping one
step ahead of police and security services mean the threat of
organised criminals to the UK is 'increasing in both scope and complexity'.

Set up last February to target Britain's biggest gangsters, Soca's
assessment warns that UK criminals are 'unlikely to have difficulty
in acquiring a firearm should they wish to do so'. It adds that
demand for firearms remains high, with criminals able to procure
weapons from the internet or through the post easily and with
reasonable safety.

Although attempts to crack down on child pornography have
intensified, the report concludes that the number of active sex
offenders in the UK remains unknown. However, evidence suggests
numbers are growing, with the internet 'increasing the scale and
reducing the risk' to perpetrators.

As the market has grown, intelligence reports reveal that major
organised criminal networks are starting to move into child
pornography. Recent trends monitored by police include the growing
use of 'morphing', where images of children are altered by computer
technology, while advances in internet technology have allowed
'real-time video coverage of abuse shown simultaneously to a number
of viewers'. The US remains the host country for most illegal
websites, although in the past year Japan has witnessed a sharp growth.

The report also notes with concern that the continued fall in the
price of drugs indicates that measures to reduce the trade in illegal
narcotics are failing. Average street prices of heroin have fallen
from UKP70 a gram in December 2000 to UKP49. The cost of a gram of
cocaine fell from UKP65 to UKP40 over the same period, while the
price of ecstasy pills dropped from UKP9 to UKP4.

Over the past year, intelligence officials recorded a growing number
of trafficked prostitutes from Lithuania and Africa, notably Nigeria,
entering the UK. Street prices for illegally imported prostitutes are
currently running at between UKP2,000 and UKP3,000. Elsewhere,
attempts to smuggle illegal immigrants into the UK are still being
made through the French ports of Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk, with
Moscow, Kiev, Istanbul, Sarajevo and the Balkans identified as key
points en route to the UK. The number of criminal gangmasters
involved in finding work for illegal immigrants in the UK stands at 10,000.

One of the most serious issues for Soca remains corruption, and it
recorded 'a number of instances where UK law enforcement officers
have acted corruptly and colluded with criminals,' although precise
details are not given. Despite attempts to eradicate corrupt
relations between serious criminal figures and figures throughout the
criminal justice system, the report adds that syndicates remain adept
at using the 'corruption of insiders ... to monitor law enforcement
actions and techniques'.

Countries pinpointed as posing a particular threat to the UK because
of their criminal interests include Turkey, which continues to play a
pivotal role in the supply and processing of heroin. London-based
Turks are responsible for disseminating the drug, which is mainly
cultivated in Afghanistan, to secondary distribution centres, usually
Liverpool and Birmingham. Most heroin arrives from the ports of
south-east England such as Harwich, Dover and Felixstowe, with half
of the UK trade shipped from the Netherlands after being driven
overland from Turkey.

The Netherlands and Spain remain the main entry points to Europe for
Colombian cocaine, again with most shipped into the UK via south-east ports.

Armed robberies seeking 'cash-in-transit' targets reached 837 last
year with the most infamous occurring last February with the
organised attack on a facility in Tonbridge, Kent, that yielded a
haul of UKP53m.