The National Crime Agency celebrated its tenth anniversary on 7 October 2023. Read more about how the NCA has been protecting the public from serious and organised crime for a decade.
The National Crime Agency is currently running more than 800 operations into serious and organised crime groups impacting the United Kingdom.
The huge number illustrates the scale of the fight the NCA is leading to protect the public from significant harms.
The Agency targets the most dangerous organised crime groups (OCGs) operating in or against the UK.
Some of our current investigations are against:
- A ransomware group responsible for hundreds of victims in the UK, and thousands around the world, who have lost hundreds of millions of pounds in ransom payments and disruption costs.
- A group of the highest harm predatory criminals who hide on the dark web and instruct others how to commit the worst kinds of sexual offences against children in the UK.
- An organised crime group based in Europe who are importing illegally acquired powerful automatic weapons into the UK for use by crime groups across the country.
- A network of UK based money-launderers working together to clean millions of pounds via cash and crypto on behalf of multiple UK based crime groups.
The threat from serious and organised crime
The harm from serious and organised crime is not always visible. Its reach is limitless and pernicious. It ruins lives every single day. It exploits the vulnerable. And it destroys communities across the UK, with families ruined by drugs – by addiction and the violence and crime it drives. Young lives cut short by overdoses and gun crime. Childhoods scarred by sexual abuse and constant re-victimisation as sickening videos and images are shared by offenders online. People’s life-savings stolen through online fraud or cyber attacks.
Serious and organised crime causes more harm, to more people, more often than any other national security threat.
In the last 10 years the NCA has been at the forefront of the country’s response to SOC threats which have been increasingly enabled by technological advancements.
Our work has resulted in:
- More than 23,000 disruptions – actions that have reduced or removed a crime threat
- over 12,500 arrests
- more than 4,900 convictions
- jail terms totalling over 21,100 years
- seizures of over 2,000 tonnes of cocaine, heroin and cannabis
- the seizure of more than 3,100 firearms
Director General Graeme Biggar said: “The Agency’s achievements over the last 10 years are immense.
“Over the next decade the NCA will only get better and stronger. Every day we learn more about those who harm us, we recruit excellent officers who dedicate their lives to keeping people safe and we improve our technological and intelligence capabilities.
“I am proud to lead the Agency and we will do everything possible to protect the public.”
Out now: a new podcast series
To celebrate our anniversary, we’re lifting the lid on some of the most notorious crimes solved by the National Crime Agency over the last decade with our new podcast series, launching 25 October.
‘Underworld: Behind the Scenes of the NCA’ unearths the murky ‘underworld’ of serious and organised crime, with each episode focusing on a different NCA operation.
From a million-pound people smuggling network, to millions in cash being smuggled into Dubai, listeners can hear how organised criminals were identified and relentlessly pursued by NCA officers to stop them in their tracks and put them before the courts.
With fascinating first-hand accounts from Senior Investigating Officers involved, as well as partners from global forces, including the US Homeland Security team, journalists, and psychologists, who tell the full story of each case and uncover never-heard-before details around the pursuit of justice.
Our mission
The NCA protects the public from serious and organised crime.
The functions of the Agency are twofold. Firstly, to reduce crime, through our own investigations and when appropriate coordinating, enabling and leading the work of all of our law enforcement partners. Secondly, we gather, analyse and disseminate intelligence.
We do this with our world-leading intelligence capabilities and highly skilled and specialist officers who bring their expertise and passion to work every day to make the UK safer, whether that is on our streets or online.
