National Crime Agency (NCA)

⚠️ Beware of 'job adverts' asking you to transfer money: this is how criminals trick people into laundering their illicit cash.   Money muling is illegal. Watch the NCA's Rachael Herbert talk about it on BBC Crimewatch.   If you're asked to move money for someone you don't know, report it to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.   Find out more ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eukywmpV  

National Crime Agency officers are appealing for information to trace a man convicted in his absence of importing firearms. Polish national Rafal Wojciech Habiak, age 40, should have appeared to stand trial at Canterbury Crown Court in August, but failed to attend. He was eventually convicted in his absence after the judge ruled the trial should continue. Habiak was initially arrested in 2018, after Border Force officers at Dover recovered a handgun and ammunition hidden under the floor of a Mercedes car, and a rucksack containing ten cartridges of CS gas. After being interviewed by NCA officers he was charged and pleaded guilty to importation offences, for which he was jailed for five years. While he was still serving his sentence NCA investigators received further information from a download of material on his phone, suggesting more weapons might be still concealed in the vehicle, which had been seized following his arrest. One message to Habiak read “You will need to dismantle the car a bit to get one”. As a result further searches were carried out and an Ekol pistol containing five live rounds, a flare pistol, and additional rounds of ammunition were found. Habiak, who was released from prison in January 2021 was additionally charged with conspiring to import firearms alongside the man who had sent him that message Marcin Matwijow, age 44, from Liverpool. Both men were bailed pending court proceedings. Gun smuggling is an extremely serious offence, and we are determined to do all we can to ensure Habiak is tracked down and serves his full sentence. Anyone with information can call the NCA directly on 0370 496 7622, or contact Crimestoppers Trust anonymously online or by phone on 0800 555 111. Full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/etdd6xTd

As our tenth anniversary year comes to an end, we take a look back at some of the NCA’s biggest operations over the last 12 months. From taking down drugs traffickers and cyber criminals to child abusers and people smugglers – we are more committed than ever as we enter our next decade, working with our partners, to bring dangerous individuals and criminal networks to justice and protect the public from serious and organised crime. #NCA #ProudToProtect #DecadeOfDisrupting

👀 WATCH how the NCA cracked a money laundering scheme where criminals were using gold to launder huge quantities of drug money. Lenn Mayhew-Lewis is #Wanted after going on the run when he was due to be sentenced. 📞 Call us on 0370 496 7622 or call Crimestoppers Trust 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111 if you have information on his whereabouts. https://lnkd.in/esWyaaVY

Are you looking for a job where your contribution really matters? We’re recruiting for two people to join our Integrated Protective Security (IPS) team as Senior Security Operations Centre Analysts. IPS safeguards the NCA from the full range of security threats that target the Agency, our officers and our assets, to enable the organisation to achieve its operational objectives, both domestically and overseas, with flexibility, agility and integrity. Apply now ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e-pd5Kzh

A lorry driver who tried to smuggle £620,000 worth of cannabis from Holland to Northern Ireland has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison following an NCA investigation. Sergei Nicola Bacaianov was travelling by ferry from the Netherlands to Killingholme port in May 2023, carrying a load of fresh chicken in his trailer. Acting on behalf of the NCA, Border Force officers stopped Bacaianov at the port. A search of his trailer found new welding and paintwork, indicating efforts to conceal two underfloor compartments. Each compartment contained sliding drawers with metal trays filled with a total of 31 kilos of cannabis with a street value of £620,000. Bacaianov pleaded guilty to drugs importation and was today sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. He will be deported at the end of his sentence. The message to those who choose to get involved in this type of criminality is simple – the NCA and our partner enforcement agencies will use every available tactic to identify you, seize your vehicles and bring you to justice. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eeaTiin9

An international drug trafficker who was once one of the UK’s most wanted has been jailed for 20 years. Career criminal James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson directed a plot to bring nearly a tonne of cocaine from Ecuador to Scotland before going on the run until he was caught in the Netherlands in an NCA Most Wanted campaign. The cocaine was worth £76m and was stopped at the port of Dover in a coverload of bananas. Stevenson was also involved in a plot to produce and supply 28m street Valium tablets which were recovered in a pill factory in Kent. Offenders who traffick and peddle drugs around the UK don’t care at all about the harm they bring to our communities, they don’t care about the lives that are destroyed by addiction. The NCA and our policing partners will continue to employ every possible tactic to target offenders who pose such a threat to the public. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e4XNWrSu

As part of the extensive investigation into Evil Corp, the NCA has mapped out the history and reach of Evil Corp’s criminality; from a family-centred financial crime group in Moscow that branched out into cybercrime, going on to extort at least $300 million from victims globally, including those within healthcare, critical national infrastructure and government, among other sectors. Read ‘Evil Corp: Behind the Screens’ in full ⬇

In May we revealed LockBitsUpp, leader of the LockBit ransomware group, as Dmitry Khoroshev. Today, we can also identify one of his affiliates (known as Beverley) as Aleksandr Ryzhenkov, Russian national and key member of cyber criminal group, Evil Corp. 'Beverley' was responsible for: ☠️ 60 LockBit attacks 💰 Extorting at least $100 million from victims To the rest of the affiliates, developers and money launders, we look forward to catching up with you all soon. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/etTjkZXj

Further Evil Corp cyber criminals exposed following NCA investigation, one unmasked as LockBit affiliate, as UK, US and Australia unveil sanctions. 16 members of Evil Corp, once believed to be the most significant cybercrime threat in the world have been sanctioned in the UK with their links to the Russian state and other ransomware groups, including LockBit, exposed. Sanctions have also been imposed by Australia and the US. An extensive investigation by the NCA has helped map out the history and reach of Evil Corp’s criminality; from a family-centred financial crime group in Moscow that branched out into cybercrime, going on to extort at least $300 million from victims globally. Today, the head of Evil Corp, Maksim Yakubets and eight of those sanctioned by the US in 2019 have also been sanctioned in the UK by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, along with an additional seven individuals whose links and support for the group have not previously been exposed. This includes Aleksandr Ryzhenkov, Yakubets’ right-hand man who has also been identified as a LockBit affiliate as part of Operation Cronos - the ongoing NCA-led international disruption of the group. The NCA is dedicated to working with our partners in the UK and overseas, sharing intelligence and working to disrupt the most sophisticated and harmful ransomware groups, no matter where they are or how long it takes. Read the full story ➡️ https://lnkd.in/etTjkZXj