National Crime Agency (NCA)

Are you looking for a job where your contribution really matters? We’re recruiting for two people to join our Integrated Protective Security (IPS) team as Senior Security Operations Centre Analysts. IPS safeguards the NCA from the full range of security threats that target the Agency, our officers and our assets, to enable the organisation to achieve its operational objectives, both domestically and overseas, with flexibility, agility and integrity. Apply now ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e-pd5Kzh

A lorry driver who tried to smuggle £620,000 worth of cannabis from Holland to Northern Ireland has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison following an NCA investigation. Sergei Nicola Bacaianov was travelling by ferry from the Netherlands to Killingholme port in May 2023, carrying a load of fresh chicken in his trailer. Acting on behalf of the NCA, Border Force officers stopped Bacaianov at the port. A search of his trailer found new welding and paintwork, indicating efforts to conceal two underfloor compartments. Each compartment contained sliding drawers with metal trays filled with a total of 31 kilos of cannabis with a street value of £620,000. Bacaianov pleaded guilty to drugs importation and was today sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. He will be deported at the end of his sentence. The message to those who choose to get involved in this type of criminality is simple – the NCA and our partner enforcement agencies will use every available tactic to identify you, seize your vehicles and bring you to justice. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eeaTiin9

An international drug trafficker who was once one of the UK’s most wanted has been jailed for 20 years. Career criminal James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson directed a plot to bring nearly a tonne of cocaine from Ecuador to Scotland before going on the run until he was caught in the Netherlands in an NCA Most Wanted campaign. The cocaine was worth £76m and was stopped at the port of Dover in a coverload of bananas. Stevenson was also involved in a plot to produce and supply 28m street Valium tablets which were recovered in a pill factory in Kent. Offenders who traffick and peddle drugs around the UK don’t care at all about the harm they bring to our communities, they don’t care about the lives that are destroyed by addiction. The NCA and our policing partners will continue to employ every possible tactic to target offenders who pose such a threat to the public. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e4XNWrSu

As part of the extensive investigation into Evil Corp, the NCA has mapped out the history and reach of Evil Corp’s criminality; from a family-centred financial crime group in Moscow that branched out into cybercrime, going on to extort at least $300 million from victims globally, including those within healthcare, critical national infrastructure and government, among other sectors. Read ‘Evil Corp: Behind the Screens’ in full ⬇

In May we revealed LockBitsUpp, leader of the LockBit ransomware group, as Dmitry Khoroshev. Today, we can also identify one of his affiliates (known as Beverley) as Aleksandr Ryzhenkov, Russian national and key member of cyber criminal group, Evil Corp. 'Beverley' was responsible for: ☠️ 60 LockBit attacks 💰 Extorting at least $100 million from victims To the rest of the affiliates, developers and money launders, we look forward to catching up with you all soon. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/etTjkZXj

Further Evil Corp cyber criminals exposed following NCA investigation, one unmasked as LockBit affiliate, as UK, US and Australia unveil sanctions. 16 members of Evil Corp, once believed to be the most significant cybercrime threat in the world have been sanctioned in the UK with their links to the Russian state and other ransomware groups, including LockBit, exposed. Sanctions have also been imposed by Australia and the US. An extensive investigation by the NCA has helped map out the history and reach of Evil Corp’s criminality; from a family-centred financial crime group in Moscow that branched out into cybercrime, going on to extort at least $300 million from victims globally. Today, the head of Evil Corp, Maksim Yakubets and eight of those sanctioned by the US in 2019 have also been sanctioned in the UK by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, along with an additional seven individuals whose links and support for the group have not previously been exposed. This includes Aleksandr Ryzhenkov, Yakubets’ right-hand man who has also been identified as a LockBit affiliate as part of Operation Cronos - the ongoing NCA-led international disruption of the group. The NCA is dedicated to working with our partners in the UK and overseas, sharing intelligence and working to disrupt the most sophisticated and harmful ransomware groups, no matter where they are or how long it takes. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/etTjkZXj

Former solicitor Philip Shiner pleads guilty to three counts of fraud. Shiner is a former human rights lawyer and led the pursuit of legal claims against British soldiers accused of ill-treatment of Iraqi detainees after the 2003 Iraq war. Shiner was the Principal Solicitor of the law firm Public Interest Lawyers. He made an application to the Legal Services Commission in 2007 in which he sought up to £200,000 of Legal Aid funding for his firm to represent clients including Khuder Al-Sweady, in an application for Judicial Review. All told he received around £3million in the value of the contract. The ensuing Al-Sweady inquiry cost the tax payer £24 million. In making the application, the Defendant failed to disclose to the Commission that an agent acting on his behalf and with his knowledge had been cold calling and making unsolicited approaches potential clients in Iraq. Shiner’s actions resulted in untold pressure and anxiety on members of the British Armed Forces. This conviction is a milestone in what has been a thorough and complex domestic and international investigation. Full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ez2aUrmi

NCA officers have led a law enforcement partnership with the Bulgarian authorities to prevent hundreds of boats, engines and other pieces of maritime equipment reaching the hands of people smugglers. For the last 12 months the NCA, alongside the UK Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, have worked closely with the Bulgarian National Customs Agency and Bulgarian Border Police, sharing intelligence and mounting joint operations targeting the criminal supply chain. As a result, 33 separate interceptions of maritime equipment intended for criminal gangs organising channel crossings have been made, including 125 dangerous inflatable boats, 128 outboard engines, more than 700 pumps, and 300 rubber rings. NCA experts assess the seizures will have denied the crime networks around £16.6 million in profit they would have made from crossings using the equipment. Adrian Matthews, Director of Intelligence at the NCA, said: “Bulgaria is a key location on the supply route for the criminal people smuggling networks involved in organising dangerous Channel boat crossings. “Taking this equipment out before it can reach them not only disrupts their activities and hits their profits, but it also prevents these lethal boats and under-powered engines being used at sea where lives are at risk. “As close partners and allies, the UK and Bulgaria work together to tackle organised crime and illegal migration, strengthening the border security of both countries. “And together we are determined to continue doing all we can to disrupt and dismantle the people smuggling networks profiting from misery, wherever and however they operate.” https://ow.ly/b7rg50Ty8q4

Warning: this post contains references to child sexual abuse. A man who subjected a vulnerable young girl to years of sustained sexual abuse 17 years ago has been convicted, following a National Crime Agency investigation. David Fish, 46, of Kilnhurst in Rotherham, raped, wounded and forced the girl to take part in sexually explicit videos over the course of two years, Sheffield Crown Court heard. Fish began grooming the girl in 2007, when she was around 15 years old and in care. After approaching the girl and her friends at a local park, Fish, who was in his 20s, exchanged numbers with her. The court heard how the young girl was infatuated with the much-older Fish, who often plied her with drugs and alcohol, going on to exploit her trust in him by coercing her into sex. Officers from Operation Stovewood – the NCA’s investigation into historic allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham – launched an investigation in 2018, after reviewing a report the victim had made to police. The victim, by then in her 20s, agreed to talk to NCA officers. After investigators listened to the woman’s account, they identified corroborating evidence and arrested Fish in 2020. Fish was charged on 23 August 2023 with seven offences. He pleaded guilty to two sexual offences and was today found guilty of two further sexual offences, including rape, and a count of unlawful wounding. He was found not guilty of two counts of rape. It’s never too late to report child sexual abuse. Adults who suffered sexual abuse as a child can report it to police by calling 101, or in person at a police station. Reports are handled by officers who are specially trained in supporting victims and dealing with such sensitive cases. Full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eAgSKTjP

An Irish woman has been charged with drugs offences after more than £950,000 worth of cannabis was seized at Belfast City Airport. Stella Doyle-Daly, 18, from Hanover Street, Dublin, was arrested by NCA officers after she was stopped at the airport on Tuesday. She had travelled from Thailand via Doha and Heathrow airport. A search of two suitcases by Border Force officers found almost 48 kilos of cannabis. The drugs would be worth an estimated £956,000 at street level. Doyle-Daly was interviewed by NCA officers yesterday and charged with drugs importation offences. The NCA continues in our work to prevent drugs from reaching the streets of the UK. We will pursue the organised crime groups behind importations and the couriers paid to transport the drugs across the border. The gangs behind these smuggling attempts are only interested in making money. Their couriers, who are likely to be arrested and prosecuted, are expendable. We would appeal to those thinking of getting involved drug smuggling on behalf of these gangs to think about the consequences of their actions – you will be identified and prosecuted. Full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/enq6mDNq