London gangs' £25bn profits

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: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/top_story.html?in_review_id=436153&in_review_text_id=385235 : London gangs' £25bn profits : by Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent : Four hundred organised criminal gangs are operating in London and the South-East generating illegal profits of around £25 billion a year, a police intelligence report says today. : : The startling scale of crime in the capital is revealed in the most comprehensive analysis yet by the National Criminal Intelligence Service, which carries out sophisticated surveillance of the biggest criminal organisations. : The bulk of the money generated comes from drugs dealing, says the report, and it claims many London-based gangs now have full-time operatives in Holland, the key point of distribution for cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ecstasy. : But the report also says that the gangsters are increasingly diversifying into crimes such as fraud, cigarette smuggling and illegal immigration in an effort to boost profits. : In an emerging trend many crime gangs are also forming new alliances to exploit different illegal activities. The analysis of organised crime warns of the threat of violent eastern European crime groups, such as the Albanian mafia, who are muscling in on the heroin trade. : The NCIS report says that 80 per cent of the groups are engaged in drug trafficking, mostly in Class A drugs such as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. : The crime groups are diversifying with 20 per cent of drugs gangs now operating excise frauds by either smuggling cigarettes or engaging in VAT fraud. The report says that two-thirds of football hooligan groups are also engaged in drug trafficking and a third in counterfeiting. : Gangs also used routes for smuggling drugs for smuggling illegal human cargoes, one of the biggest growth areas in crime in recent years. : Cigarette smuggling was highlighted as another boom crime, costing the Exchequer an estimated £3.8 billion a year in lost revenue. : More than one in five crime groups are now engaged in excise fraud, notably cigarette smuggling, according to the report entitled the UK Threat Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime. : Rival crime gangs are also increasingly co-operating. For instance Yardie gangs have teamed up with Turkish groups to distribute heroin in London. The report warns that Albanian mafia groups have already gained a foothold in Britain with control of organised prostitution. : NCIS says there is little evidence of the Albanian groups engaging in drug trafficking in Britain so far but they have already established a major presence in western Europe, notably Scandinavian countries. Around half of London's crime groups are British, though the number of traditional crime families based on territories is declining.

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