UK's 'Most Wanted' list drawn up

Tony Blair said Soca would be pursuing serious crime

A list of the UK's top 130 crime barons has been compiled in what is seen as an equivalent of America's Most Wanted.

An original list of more than 1,000 names has been narrowed down by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

But the names - which will not be published - would not form a definitive list of Britain's most serious gangsters, the agency stressed.

Director general Bill Hughes said: "We are adding to that list as we go and as our intelligence gets better."

The agency, headed by former MI5 chief Sir Stephen Lander, began operating in April with a promise by Prime Minister Tony Blair to "make life hell" for criminal gangs, prioritising those profiting from the use of illegal drugs and human trafficking.

Extended operation

Mr Hughes said that Soca - which keeps an ultra-low profile - has more than 250 active operations and has made more than 200 arrests.

The agency has also supported local police forces in more than 100 operations since its launch, and has 130 liaison officers embedded with other law enforcement agencies around the world, second only to the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

It has spent the last six months compiling a list of more than 1,000 "serious players" in the criminal underworld and has now issued its first progress report since its launch earlier this year.

"We have got to this better picture now of certainly in excess of 1,000 people who are players at a serious level," said Mr Hughes.

"We have refined down those who are the real players within that. That is well over 100."

Soca has also won four "financial reporting orders" from the courts, which force criminals to reveal their bank account details and other financial data.

One was imposed on Abdullah Baybasin, the wheelchair-bound head of a multi-billion pound drugs empire, who was jailed for 22 years in May.

The Kurdish refugee is believed to have controlled 90% of the heroin imported into the UK.