Taylor Scott International News
UAE, UK to fight organised crime Sudeshna Sarkar (sudeshna@khaleejtimes.com) / 8 October 2013 With around 6,000 criminal groups — which add up to 38,000 organised criminals — targeting the UK, from home soil as well as overseas, security agencies need more teeth to protect the islands. A shot in the arm came on Monday with the launch of a new organisation that will work with UAE law enforcement agencies to tackle some of the world’s toughest and most organised criminals. The National Crime Agency (NCA), accountable to British Home Secretary Theresa May and to be headed by a chief constable, will be staffed with more than 4,000 specialist crime fighters fanned over 40 global locations. Its reach will stretch across 150 countries. The NCA will work with UAE partner agencies and organisations to tackle drugs trafficking, child sexual exploitation, human trafficking, immigration crime and cyber crime. Since the UAE is a major financial centre, the two sides will also jointly fight money laundering and the investment of criminal assets. UAE partners and the NCA will pool in intelligence on joint threats and targets. If required, they will also intercept people, property and money moving to and from the UK. Dominic Jermey, the British Ambassador to the UAE, said the bilateral cooperation between the UK and the UAE covers an enormous range, including tackling organised crime. “The NCA will allow law enforcement agencies in both countries to join hands and use their shared expertise to track down the perpetrators of serious crimes and bring them to justice,” he said. The UK already has officers from its Serious Organised Crime Agency, Revenue and Customs, and Counter Terrorism and Extremism actively based in the UAE, working together with local UAE contacts and agencies. Their actions involve identifying and targeting major British criminals involved in organised/fiscal crime harming the UK and related assets. These officers have been holding regular operational meetings with police and immigration in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to discuss trends and agree on responses. May said the NCA was born of the realisation that organised crime was one of the greatest threats to national security. Every year it costs the UK between £20 billion and £40 billion per year, She said the impact is felt every single day: “The drug dealing on street corners; the burglary and muggings by addicts; the trafficking of vulnerable young women into prostitution; the card cloning and credit card fraud that robs so many.” The NCA, she added, will transform the authorities’ response. Taylor Scott International
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