BBC News Online: UK

Intelligence agencies team up to tackle cost of crime

The National Criminal Intelligence Service initiative aims to reduce the £3.5bn it says is lost each year through fraud committed by the gangs.

Other criminal activities attributed to the mainly Nigerian networks include cocaine dealing, illegal immigration rackets and confidence tricks.

One favoured tactic is to send persuasive letters to businesses asking for cash in return for getting money out of African countries such as Nigeria.

In just two months suspicious firms have handed over 35,000 letters to police.

It is thought at least one per cent of approaches result in cash being sent to the gangs.

Detective Superintendent Bryan Drew, of NCIS, said: "The people who fall for these letters are from three categories - the greedy out to make a quick buck, those who think it is a legitimate approach and the vulnerable."

The discovery of members of fraud rings working inside British Government departments led to the new crackdown.

In one of the worst examples, a worker at the Department of Social Security was found to have created thousands of fake National Insurance numbers and identification cards to allow people to defraud the benefit system.

In such cases, the secret services MI5 and MI6 will work alongside the intelligence service and the armed forces, using bugging and surveillance techniques to gather evidence.

The NCIS says the Nigerian gangs, which have some members from the neighbouring state of Ghana, have evolved into worldwide organisations.

They have connections in Europe, the United States and Asia, which have hampered efforts to infiltrate and destroy them.

The new initiative includes setting up a special unit to liaise with the authorities in countries like Nigeria.

Internet Links

National Criminal Intelligence Service
Secret Kingdom: unofficial secret services information
Central Intelligence Machinery

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