National Crime Agency seeks help to trace major crime bosses who owe £50m

Wanted: Khalid Mahmood Malik, left, Robert 'SAS Bob' Dimmock and Martin Roydon Evans
National Crime Agency
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A world-wide public appeal for help in tracing nearly £50 million owed by some of the country’s biggest crime bosses was launched today by Britain’s top law enforcement body.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it wanted tip-offs about secret accounts, cars, property and other hidden assets as it published a new “rogues’ gallery” showing the offences and debts to the taxpayer of 15 convicted “Mr Bigs”.

The offenders include drug traffickers and crime gang money launderers. Each was found by a judge to have made at least £1 million from crime, but has since failed to repay their illicit gains. Their total debt now stands at £46.2 million and is rising daily because of interest charges.

In a further blow to law enforcement two of the criminals, including one who owes more than £7.6 million, have fled abroad. Others are still in prison but five have been released, leaving them free to enjoy secret profits concealed from investigators.

Announcing the decision to mount a public appeal, the NCA said it was naming offenders with large debts for the first time following a request from the Evening Standard for information about its progress in enforcing confiscation orders imposed on millionaire criminals.

The agency said the aim of the publicity campaign — under which photos and details of offenders will be posted online and spread worldwide via social media sites including Facebook and Twitter — was to trigger new leads about hidden wealth. The move follows the failure of “covert” operations and other efforts to recover the money.

Interactive gallery: The National Crime Agency's most wanted

Nigel Kirby, a deputy director of the NCA, added: “We use every legal process available to us to realise assets but in these cases we don’t know whether there is money, or where it might be, so we are seeking the public’s help.

“This is money that goes back to the British taxpayer and into the British economy. Depriving criminals of their profits ensures that justice is done and it also removes capital that could otherwise be used to fund further crime.

“By publicising these names, we hope to uncover new leads. If one of these people has a boat in a marina, for example, then someone might know that. If an informant can give us information, we can work here and with our international networks to recover the assets.”

Among the crime bosses named today is Kalid Malik, 44, who was jailed a decade ago for 25 years for running a heroin trafficking ring. He has failed to hand back £8.6 million of the £10.5 million of criminal profits that he was ordered to repay and now owes £12.3 million with added interest charges.

Illegally funded assets identified following his conviction included a black Lamborghini Gallardo and other cars as well as property in Britain and abroad. Law enforcers hope that information about hidden assets will result from today’s public appeal.

Another of those listed today is former Notting Hill drug baron Karl Pettitt. He is serving a 15-year sentence following his conviction at Blackfriars crown court in 2007 for importing £12 million worth of cocaine from Colombia for distribution in London.

Phone calls intercepted by Spanish police caught Pettitt, 45, boasting of living in a “very high-profile area” in Madrid with “Posh and Becks next door”.

A judge later described him as enjoying a “multi-millionaire lifestyle” before his conviction. Despite this, Pettitt has not repaid a penny of his criminal profits and now owes £1.5 million.

Another London convict on today’s list is 74-year-old Wattie Soutter, who was jailed in 2009 for eight years for his role as the “broker” for a cannabis smuggling gang which hid drugs from Holland in frozen chickens.

The total street value of the illicit trade totalled £60 million and Soutter — one of three pensioners convicted over the crime — was later ordered to repay £2.3 million. Only £815 has been recovered, however, and his debt now stands at £3.2 million. A seven year default sentence has been imposed for non-payment but early release rules mean that Soutter will soon be freed despite defying the court order to hand back his illegal gains.

Each offender named in today’s “rogues’ gallery” has been sent a letter warning them that the NCA is launching a publicity campaign revealing “details of those individuals with large confiscation orders which remain unpaid”.

The 15 singled out for public exposure today are among 36 major criminals given confiscation orders of £1 million or more since 2006 when the Serious Organised Crime Agency — which was replaced two years ago by the NCA — was created.

The other offenders not featured on today’s list include two who have died and four who have repaid their debts. The remaining convicts, whose debts total £23.9 million, have also been omitted from the “rogues’ gallery” because they are co-operating with the agency over repayment or mounting legal challenges to reduce the money owed.

Their details could be posted online in future, however, if significant sums remain unpaid.

Today’s appeal and the disclosure about the size of the debts will reinforce concerns about the ability of law enforcers to recover criminal profits.

Questions about this have been raised in a series of articles by the Evening Standard highlighting the way in which “Mr Bigs” have been holding onto their illicit gains.

The NCA’s director general, Keith Bristow, revealed earlier this year that only about £124 million of £1.46 billion of confiscation order debts was likely to be recoverable.

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