Liverpool revealed as centre for organised crime in North

Nov 19 2007 by Rob Merrick, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL has been revealed as Britain’s centre for organised crime outside London, in figures for the number of "Mr Bigs" brought to court.

There were 24 prosecutions in the city in the first year of Britain’s FBI-style crime squad, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

Only the capital, with 89 prosecutions, was a bigger focus for SOCA, which was set up to take the fight to the gangs flooding the country with illegal drugs, as well as guns.

Other big cities, such as Newcastle (14), Manchester (13) and Birmingham (13), saw little more than half the number of prosecutions in Liverpool.

The figures, released by the Home Office, confirm the warnings by Merseyside police that SOCA’s eyes must be "firmly focused on Liverpool". When the agency was established last year, then Deputy Chief Constable Jon Murphy described Liverpool as a "mission critical area", because of its links with Spain, Turkey and South America.

Around 30 former Merseyside police officers, with between 15 and 25 years’ experience each, were recruited to its ranks.

Now the Home Office figures have revealed that more than one in 12 of SOCA’s total of 283 prosecutions in 2006-7 were in Liverpool.

Perhaps the most high-profile success came in June, when a Merseyside gang was jailed for a total of 133 years for its involvement in a £4m plot to supply drugs.

The conspiracy was smashed when police bugged a car owned by one of the organisers in Formby Hall Golf Club car park, the trial at Liverpool Crown Court was told.

During the investigation, heroin with a street value of £3.5m was discovered in a Rotterdam warehouse, ready for onward transport to Liverpool.

SOCA’s annual report also hails the success of "Operation LIMITO", which targeted a Merseyside gang trafficking Class A drugs and firearms into Britain and on to the Republic of Ireland.

Officers seized five Glock 9mm pistols, more than 14,000 rounds of ammunition, 18 magazines, 17,000 in euros and 30 kilos of heroin.

In the annual report, Liverpool, London and Birmingham were described as "significant centres for the distribution of all types of Class A drugs".

It added: "They supply other cities, which in turn operate as regional centres supplying smaller cities and towns."

On a more upbeat note, SOCA described its targeting of key Merseyside criminals among the "positive developments in levels of knowledge in year one".

Overall, it seized one fifth of Europe’s cocaine supply in its first year of operation, prevented 35 potential murders and drew up a list of 1,600 crime chiefs, the agency said.

However, it warned: "The profits to be made from serious organised crime ensure that the various activities continue to be attractive and the overall threat to the UK remains high."

Furthermore, with high levels of poppy and coca cultivation, in Afghanistan and Colombia respectively, there was "ready availability" of hard drugs at falling prices.

And there was an increased use of guns by gang members "driven predominantly by the trade in Class A drugs, especially crack cocaine".