1.  INTRODUCTION

  The National Crime Squad (NCS) is tasked with combating national and international serious and organised crime within, or affecting, England and Wales. This is achieved through the selective targeting of offenders and organised crime enterprises, exploiting every opportunity to prevent and reduce the destructive impact of their criminal activity on communities and the fabric of society.

  Formed in 1998, the NCS is a Non-Departmental Public Body. Responsibility for the accountability, management and supervision of the organisation is vested in three entities: the Director General, the Home Secretary and the Service Authority. Operational direction lies with the Director General, supported by a Deputy Director General, two Assistant Chief Constables, a Director of Finance and a Director of Business Support. The organisation is staffed by police officers from the 43 police forces of England and Wales, as well as police officers who have been directly employed under the Police Reform Act, and directly employed police staff who perform both operational and support roles. The organisation aims to have approximately 1,800 staff, including separately funded national functions. NCS Headquarters are in London, with three Operational Command Units (OCUs)—Northern, Eastern and Western—covering the whole of England and Wales. Each OCU consists of a number of branch offices where operational teams are based. The NCS also encompasses multi-agency units tasked with addressing specific areas of criminality, such as the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU).

  On 1 April 2006, the NCS will form a central part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), as a result of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill currently going through Parliament.

2.  THE NCS IN WALES

  The NCS has three branch offices in Wales. Each of these branch offices are staffed by experienced detectives, the majority of whom are currently seconded from local police forces. These officers are supported by specialist police staff, who provide intelligence analysis, financial investigation and technical and administrative support. The branch offices have made a significant impact on serious and organised criminality in or affecting Wales through the dismantling and disruption of organised crime enterprises. Over the last three years alone, the NCS in Wales has achieved the following results:

—  Seven major organised crime enterprises—all connected to the trade in Class A drugs or organised immigration crime—have been completely dismantled.

—  Significant seizures of Class A drugs (157 kilograms of cocaine and ecstasy), together with over two metric tonnes of other drugs, (such as cannabis and amphetamine).

—  139 arrests of organised criminals, the majority of whom reside in and/or impact on the Welsh market. In the last three years, the majority of these main targets have been based in Wales, although they have all had many associates and contacts in the UK, Europe and internationally.

—  The NCS in Wales has identified to the Courts that these organised crime enterprises have accrued benefits through their drug dealing to the approximate value of £28 million. £7 million of criminal assets have been identified and over £1.5 million has already been confiscated.

  Furthermore, the NCS is working hard to support Welsh police forces in tackling cross-border crime at Level 2 of the National Intelligence Model (NIM), particularly as part of Operation TARIAN. NCS personnel in both north and south Wales are permanent members of the Regional Tasking and Co-ordinating Group (RTCG), which is responsible for addressing NIM Level 2 criminality within Wales. The RTCG in this region has also developed a Regional Task Force (RTF) as its operational arm, which the NCS is fully involved in supporting (see Operation CYAN below, for example).

3.  RECENT OPERATIONS

  To illustrate the effectiveness, challenges and variety of the work of the NCS in Wales, outlined below is a precis of a number of operations over recent years:

Operation CONGLOMERATE (organised illegal immigration)

  Operation CONGLOMERATE was an investigation into an organised crime enterprise headed by a Bulgarian national residing in Swansea on a false passport. The group was responsible for the exploitation of young Bulgarian women for the purpose of prostitution in massage parlours in both Wales and London.

  Following extensive enquiries by the NCS and the UK Immigration Service, the ringleaders were arrested and subsequently deported to Bulgaria.

Operation CYAN (Class A drugs)

  This was an operation investigating an organised crime enterprise based in Lancaster and Bridgend supplying large quantities of cocaine and ecstasy into the south Wales market. An early breakthrough led to the arrest of the Lancaster supplier, and subsequent enquiries identified a large network of Level 2 dealers and suppliers throughout the Neath, Port Talbot and Bridgend Valley regions. Consultation with the RTF management resulted in an agreement that the NCS would provide the RTF with all the intelligence and evidence it had amassed during its investigation. This enabled the RTF to execute 20 search warrants, which in turn led to 18 arrests and the recovery of both Class A and B drugs to the value £180,000 and £160,000, as well as cash seizures.

  In October 2004, 12 members of this organised criminal enterprise were sentenced to a total of 60 years imprisonment at Swansea Crown Court. The two principal members of the group were jailed for 12 and 10 years imprisonment each.

  The net result of this collaboration was a considerable local impact in the communities concerned, with some local residents telephoning the local Divisional Commander to congratulate the police on taking such positive action. Community intelligence indicated a shortage of drugs on the streets for some time afterwards. The RTF were also commended for Operation CYAN by the Home Office, "Tackling the Middle Market" at the Tackling Drug Supply Awards 2004.

Operation EUREKA (Class A & B drugs)

  Operation EUREKA was launched in May 2001 after liaison with colleagues in the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS). The operation was a long-term investigation into the criminal activities of Bernard William Rees. Rees was a major criminal in Wales who controlled an organised crime enterprise of both national and international significance. Rees had been sentenced in 1993 to a term of 13 years imprisonment for offences of importation and conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was released from prison in May 2001 on licence, whereupon NCS officers mounted Operation EUREKA into his drug distribution network. Rees' organisation was responsible for the wholesale distribution of both Class A and B controlled drugs. A significant and pivotal figure in this organisation was Martin Barnes, a prominent South Wales businessman. Officers mounted an extensive surveillance operation and gathered evidence as members of the gang met in car parks and other venues to set up major drug deals. The organisation dealt in cocaine, heroin, amphetamine sulphate, crack-cocaine and ecstasy. The network was dismantled when officers made a string of arrests between January and May 2002 and seized drugs worth up to £1 million, as well as £15,000 in cash. Half a kilo of cocaine was recovered, one of the largest such seizures in 2002 in south Wales, along with 30 kilos of amphetamine sulphate, a replica pistol and six live 9mm rounds of ammunition.

  12 men were sentenced to over 80 years imprisonment following their convictions at Cardiff Crown Court on 7 May 2003. The principal defendants, Rees and Barnes, were sentenced as follows:

—  Bernard William Rees was convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine and two counts of conspiracy to supply amphetamine. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. In addition, the Judge ordered that he be recalled to complete an outstanding three and a half years imprisonment for a previous conviction (conspiracy to supply cocaine) in 1993, when he was sentenced 13 years imprisonment, but released in 2001 on license.

—  Martin Barnes was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine, two counts of conspiracy to supply amphetamine, one count of possessing amphetamine with intent to supply, one count of supplying cocaine and one count of supplying heroin. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

  Judge Richards commended all of the NCS officers and staff involved in Operation EUREKA, stating that, "The public is indebted to the NCS, and if not for their arrests of the accused persons, the cocaine and amphetamine seized would have hit the streets of South Wales".

  To demonstrate the commitment to ensure that major criminals do not profit from their criminal enterprises, the NCS applied to the High Court in London, and won a legal ruling to confiscate the proceeds of drug trafficking dating back to an Order made 10 years ago at Cardiff Crown Court. In October 1993, a Confiscation Order for £142,243 was made against Bernard William Rees after he was jailed for 13 years for supplying cocaine. Rees failed to satisfy the Order and receivers were brought in to identify and seize his assets, including properties in Spain, Cardiff, and a 50% stake in his marital home in Cardiff. However, before his conviction in 1993, Rees and his wife Margaret divorced and she later filed an affidavit, which claimed the majority of the assets belonged to her alone. The NCS contested the affidavit, and after the High Court had ruled in its favour, it lifted a restriction on the Receiver, allowing the realisation of the assets over 10 years later.

Operation NEVADA (kidnap response)

  Operation NEVADA involved NCS officers traveling to Spain to assist North Wales Police and the Spanish authorities in the investigation into missing couple Linda and Tony O'Malley, from Llangollen. The couple had visited Spain in August 2002 with a view to buying property in the Costa Blanca area, and were reported missing when they failed to return home. The NCS established a full kidnap response control centre in consultation with North Wales Police, and subsequently managed negotiations after receiving e-mail and telephone demands for money.

  On 25 March 2003, Spanish police arrested four people after technical inquiries significantly progressed the investigation. Tragically, the decomposed bodies of Mr and Mrs O'Malley were later found in the cellar of a villa in the north of Alicante.

Operation ORE (paedophilia)

  The Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) is one of several specialised units within the NCS, and is charged with the investigation of on-line paedophilia, including the UK co-ordination of the now publicised Operation ORE. This operation started when, in 2001, the details of 7,272 British suspects who had accessed child abuse images on a US website with their credit cards were passed to UK authorities. Operation ORE subsequently became the largest ever single investigation into online activity of this nature. UK law enforcement was unprepared for the sheer volume and proliferation of child abuse images on the net, which resulted in the NCS being asked to review Operation ORE on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Home Office and the wider UK law enforcement community.

  The resultant recommendations called for a process whereby a single team would receive, evaluate, risk assess and disseminate material relating to national and international internet-related child abuse. Regional forces would then use their expertise in investigation and intervention. POLIT was thus established in 2002, becoming the single point of contact for domestic and international law enforcement, as well as the administrative support for operational tasking and co-ordination. Since January 2004, POLIT has handled a total of 2,782 intelligence packages, including those from the USA, Norway, Canada and Germany.

  Operation ORE has had a significant impact in Wales: 68 suspects were charged with offences, of which 62 were convicted. Of these, 39 were sentenced and 11 were cautioned. 18 known abusers were removed, 40 additional child abuse investigations were generated and—perhaps most importantly—six children were recovered from abuse. 318 computers were examined in the course of enquiries.

4.  PARTNERSHIP WORKING

  Success on this scale is not achieved by operating in isolation, and the NCS are proud of the fact that it has an excellent working relationship with many other partner law enforcement agencies, both domestic and foreign. For example, Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, NCIS and UKIS within the UK, as well as the Australian Federal Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police from overseas.

  The NCS also work extensively with several governmental departments, the security and intelligence agencies, as well as both the private and voluntary sectors. It is at the forefront of developing an innovative organised crime reduction strategy, with such partnerships forming a key pillar of the organisation's ability to proactively create obstacles to prevent organised criminals going about their business.

5.  CONCLUSION

  The NCS in Wales are currently conducting several operations which have an impact on Wales. These operations are in various stages of development and are all concentrated upon organised criminals who operate at NIM Level 3. Other specialised units of the NCS, such as the NHTCU and POLIT, have provided Welsh police forces with assistance to combat NIM Level 2 criminality in Wales. The NCS also on occasions provide specialist training to Welsh territorial police forces.

  The NCS remains committed to continue, in partnership with local forces, its fight against organised crime in Wales. Whilst there are many challenges ahead for the organisation, notably in the transition to SOCA in 2006, the Director General is committed to maintaining and where possible improving upon the excellent performance that has already been achieved by the NCS in Wales.

Trevor Pearce

Director General (Acting)

7 December 2004