SOCA launch

And part of that organisation is what was known as the National High Tech Crime Unit.


Guns, designer gear and jewellery taken from major criminals were shown to Tony Blair on April 3 as he launched a new crime-fighting agency.

Soca - the Serious Organised Crime Agency - will focus on the so-called "Mr Bigs" who make fortunes from drugs, money laundering, fraud and counterfeiting.

The PM went with Soca Director General Bill Hughes, a former senior police officer, and Home Secretary Charles Clarke to see some of the goods which have been seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Other items taken in recent months have included furs, counterfeit watches and passports.

About SOCA

The new agency merges the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Crime Squad with the investigative work of Customs on serious drug trafficking, and officers from the Immigration Service. It will employ more than 4000 staff and have a budget of more than £400m a year. The agency's chairman, Sir Stephen Lander, was once head of MI5, and its director-general, Bill Hughes, is the former head of the National Crime Squad.

What PM said

The PM said Soca would take a "sophisticated, integrated approach" to tackle what he called the "tyranny" of the most serious criminals. Anti-social behaviour and petty crime needed one form of policing, he stressed, organised crime needed another.

Soca brings with it four new powers - on Queen's Evidence, Financial Reporting Orders, Disclosure Notices and the creation of officers with combined powers. Mr Blair said: "Crime damages people's liberty. Victims have to be paramount. We have to stop trying to fight 21st century crime with 20th century methods."

The aims, Bill Hughes said, was to reduce the harm that major criminals do to communities; to make the UK less attractive to such criminals; and to recover more proceeds of crime. Knowing when, where and how to strike against the criminals - at home and abroad - was crucial, he told the launch. He stressed strong flows of information from the private and public sectors.