National Crime Agency (NCA)

Four men have been jailed for more than 82 years in total, for their parts in a plot to smuggle cocaine worth millions into the UK. Scott Johnston and Edwin Yahir Tabora Baca tried to outrun pursuing officers for around 28 miles at sea after their cocaine-laden boat was spotted off the coast of Cornwall. They were today jailed for 24 years and 17 years 7 months respectively at Truro Crown Court. Michael May and Terry Willis helped organise collection of the cocaine, worth £18.4m. They were also sentenced to 19 years’ and 21 years 8 months’ imprisonment. Officers suspected the boat had drugs on board, collected from a larger ship at sea, and tried to intercept the RHIB. Six large bales were recovered, containing 230kg of high-purity cocaine. The investigation was referred to NCA officers, who trawled through CCTV footage, call data and phone messages, subsequently identifying that Alex Fowlie, Bobbie Pearce, Michael May, and Terry Willis helped organise the cocaine pick up. All seven men were convicted of drug trafficking offences and the remainder of them will be sentenced later this year. FULL STORY ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e2A4u3xM

In the latest episode of #JoiningTheDotsPodcast, we go inside the takedown of a global crypto-laundering network through the NCA’s Operation Destabilise 🌐 Thomas Drohan speaks with Will Lyne, former Deputy Director at the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), about a landmark investigation that uncovered one of the world’s largest crypto-based money laundering networks. What began with tracing ransomware payments revealed a sprawling illicit finance ecosystem – linking UK drug gangs, Russian cybercriminals, South American cartels and hostile state actors – all funnelling billions through crypto exchanges masked as legitimate. At its centre was Smart, a Moscow-based exchange enabling sanctioned elites and organised crime groups to bypass global financial systems. Will shares how the NCA coordinated international operations to disrupt the network – and why the future of enforcement depends on disruption, intelligence sharing and cross-border collaboration. 🎧 Tune in for a rare inside look at how organised crime is evolving – and how law enforcement is adapting to counter it: https://lnkd.in/eFrYUSVk #FinancialCrime #MoneyLaundering #OrganisedCrime #CryptoCrime #LawEnforcement

Four men have been arrested by the National Crime Agency after several hundred kilos of drugs were seized from a boat in Somerset. The group are suspected of using a high-powered rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) to travel out to sea where it is believed a cargo vessel had dropped off packages of what is believed to be cocaine. The men are suspected of picking up the drugs to bring them to shore where they would be transported to an onward location. This is a fast-moving, intelligence led investigation by the NCA, with the support of partners including UK Home Office Border Force, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Avon and Somerset Police and Devon and Cornwall Police. The NCA is confronting and dealing with at-sea drugs drop-offs as a priority, focusing on protecting the public, and ensuring illegal drugs do not make it to UK shores. Full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eEDYXJc8

A man and a woman have been charged after the National Crime Agency (NCA) seized a firearm and ammunition from a property in Birmingham. Armed NCA officers deployed to an address in the Perry Barr area of the city on 29 July 2025 and arrested a 30-year-old man just before 6am. Inside the property a search team recovered a viable handgun and ammunition stashed in a plastic bag. A 25-year-old woman was also arrested by NCA officers in connection to the firearms find. This weapon could have caused untold damage to our communities with potentially fatal consequences. Working closely with our partners in the UK and overseas, we are relentless in our efforts to suppress the availability of firearms to criminals. Full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ekAJWGRg

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NCA officers have worked with Bulgarian law enforcement partners to seize a consignment of 25 boats that was due to be transported across Europe for use by people smugglers in the English Channel. The boats, when inflated, are around eight metres long, and each would typically have been used to carry 50 to 60 people. They are of the type typically used in highly dangerous and frequently deadly journeys across the English Channel, and are completely ill-suited for use at sea. Taking them out before they could reach the shores of northern France means we have not only prevented crossings from happening and lives being put at risk, but also put a dent in the profits of the people smugglers. The seizure is thought to be the biggest single detection of small boats in 2025, and comes as the NCA, alongside Home Office International Operations (HOIO), continues to work closely with law enforcement partners across Europe to share intelligence and mount joint operations targeting the criminal supply chain. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dMYRMHmn

This week, support parents and carers to find out what to do when... they’re worried about who their child is talking to whilst gaming. 64% of 8-17 year olds use the in-game chat function to talk to friends or people they know in person, however there is a chance they may encounter people they don’t know. The chat tools used to bring players together can be abused and taking an interest in the online games their child plays will help them to identify the risks. 🎮 Get to know the games their child plays 👪Use family controls 🏠Keep devices in a shared space ✅Support their child to report inappropriate chat Signpost parents and carers to our article to help them learn more about safer in-game chat: https://lnkd.in/e5UdVAF7 #CEOPWTDW

The head of an organised crime group who posed as a property developer to run a multi-million pound network of cannabis factories staffed by illegal migrants has been jailed for more than six years, following a NCA investigation. Roman Le headed a gang who operated at least eight farms in residential and commercial properties across the Midlands, North West and north Lincolnshire. He worked with fellow gang members Yihao Feng and David Qayumi to source and operate the properties. Among them was the former ‘Big Bamboo’ nightclub in Coventry which was raided by the NCA and West Midlands Police in October 2020. Officers found more than 1,500 plants, worth more than £1 million, spread over three floors. Many of the farms were staffed by Vietnamese or Albanian illegal migrants, some of whom were likely being exploited because of their immigration status. On 4 July Feng and Qayumi were handed prison sentences totalling six-and-a-half years. Today, Le was sentenced to six-years-and-two-months. Gangs like this are helping fuel an industry that sees people transported into the UK in life-threatening ways in boats or lorries, which is why taking action against them is so important for the NCA. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e7ZBHrTX

A man trusted to broker multi-million pound drug deals has been jailed for more than 10 years after a team of specialist investigators identified him from messages about his musician father. An associate sent Thomas Hooton a picture of his father Peter – lead singer with The Farm – and made comments that linked them to each other. Hooton, from Liverpool, used the handle ‘Ownraptor’ on the encrypted messaging service EncroChat to deal drugs with a wholesale value of around £1.3m. Investigators pieced together Hooton’s identity from clues contained in Ownraptor’s messages. They included a picture he sent of his father with the Champions League trophy. Officers from the Merseyside Organised Crime Partnership, made up of officers from the NCA and Merseyside Police, arrested Hooton and he pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to conspiring to supply heroin, cocaine, cannabis and ketamine. He was sentenced to 10 years and eight months imprisonment at the same court today. FULL STORY ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e3Abvk9y

The UK head of the notorious Kinahan crime group has been ordered to pay more than £1.1 million following a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) investigation led by the NCA. Thomas Kavanagh will have three months to pay the sum, or face another 12 years in prison. He was jailed for 21 years in March 2022 for orchestrating the importation of multi-million-pound drug shipments worth around £30million at UK street value. He also admitted being involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms and money laundering. Following his sentencing, NCA investigators began looking into the gang’s finances and assets for seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Officers estimated that Kavanagh’s criminal profits were in the region £12.2m, but recoverable assets amounted to £1.1m. Kavanagh and his gang believed they were untouchable, but that proved to be their downfall. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to target, disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups, deprive them of their assets and ensure they face justice. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eCaGXpQn