Between 1998 to 2012, there were 72 suspected poaching and illegal fishing of endangered freshwater Pearl Mussel in the rivers of Scotland. 45 of the criminal poaching took place during the last four years.
The protected mussel was found in 155 Scottish rivers at the beginning of the 1900s. Due to illegal fishing, the mussel is currently found in one-thirds of the rivers.
Across Europe, around 90 percent of mussels have been killed in the 20th century.
The mussel can live for over 100 years and produce pearls that are used in luxury items.
Source: Martin Williams, “Rare pearl mussel at risk due to illegal poaching,” Herald Scotland, May 13, 2013.
In 2012, there were 34 officially reported cases of human trafficking in Wales.
Wales was the first country in the United Kingdom to appoint an anti-human trafficking coordinator back in 2011.
(Costs and revenue of human traffickers around the world).
Source: ”Human trafficking: Co-ordinator role ‘needs more teeth’,” BBC News, April 5, 2013.
In 2012, Border officials in the United Kingdom seized $23.8 Million (£15.7 Million) worth of counterfeit electrical products in the country. The amount seized in 2012 was 6 times higher than the $3.9 Million (£2.6 Million) seized in 2009.
One of the most seized goods in 2012 was counterfeit designer headphones, such as Beats by Dr. Dre. In 2009, authorities seized $303,000 worth of fake headphones. Coinciding with the rise in popularity in headphones, $22.7 Million (£15 Million) in counterfeit headphones were seized in 2012.
It was previously reported that legitimate Beats headphones are sold for $531 (£350) in London, while fake Beats headphones are sold for $15 (£10).
Source: Rebecca Smithers, “UK sees sixfold increase in seizure of counterfeit electrical goods,” Guardian, March 28, 2013.
Price source: “£15million of fake goods, including Beats headphones, seized,” Metro, December 12, 2012.
The Treasury of the United Kingdom is estimated to be losing up to $38 Million (£25 Million) in duties each year to the theft of used cooking oil. The oil is being stolen from restaurants and converted into biodiesel. The unregulated fuel is then sold on the black market.
The cost to convert used cooking oil to biodiesel when done by legitimate companies is $1.89 (£1.24) per liter. When done illegally on the black market, the cost per liter drops to $0.30 (£0.20).
During an 11 month span between 2012 to 2013, Revenue and Customs Officials in the UK shut down 24 black market biodiesel factories.
Source: Emma Forde, “Cooking oil theft ‘costs Treasury £25m a year in lost duty’,” BBC News, March 22, 2013.
Customs Officials across Europe seized 2.1 million fake toys in 2011. The number of counterfeits seized was 68 percent less than the 6.7 million counterfeit toys seized EU borders in 2010.
42,967 of the toys were seized in the United Kingdom.
87 percent of the seized toys originated from China, followed by 10 percent from Hong Kong and 0.64 percent from Singapore.
Source: Dominic Sacco, “Customs seize fewer fake toys,” Toy News, March 18, 2013.
The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) reported that there were 298,752 users of heroin and crack cocaine in England during the 2010-2011 time period. The number of those two drugs were lower than the 332,090 users in 2005-2006.
The number of heroin and crack cocaine users entering drug treatment programs was 47,210. Back in 2006, there were 64,288 users entering treatment programs.
In the 2009 to 2010 period, there were 306,150 users of heroin and crack cocaine in England.
Source: Alan Travis, “Number of heroin and crack cocaine users falls to record low, figures show,” Guardian, March 6, 2013.
In 2012, there was increase of 10 percent in the number of illicit or counterfeit cigarettes that were smuggled into the United Kingdom, according to a survey commissioned by tobacco companies.
The city of London had the highest amount of contraband cigarettes with 35 percent of the market being fakes or smuggled cigarettes.
In total, the United Kingdom Government losses up to $5.4 Billion in tobacco tax revenue each year due to smuggling activities.
Source: Justin Davenport, “Third of cigarettes are illicit as smuggling is new ‘crime of choice’,” London Evening Standard, March 4, 2013.
Criminals in the United Kingdom target students and other job seekers to launder money in their personal bank accounts.
The criminals disguise the fraud as jobs with titles such as “money transfer agents: or “payment processing agents,” and police refer to the students as money mules. The criminals would deposit money into the students account, who would then move the cash to an offshore bank account in order to wash the money.
A typical share of payment for the money mule is 8 percent of the cash handled.
Source: Simon Gompertz, “Students warned not to get involved in money laundering,” BBC News, February 25, 2013.
Police in England and Whales detect on average 35,000 indecent images of children in pornographic settings every day in England and Whales, according to the NSPCC.
The number of criminal cases involving children increased by 48 percent over a four year period. In 2007, police detected 919 crimes of child pornography in England and Whales. In 2011, police detected 1,362 cases.
Source: Rebecca Cafe, “Police detections of child porn images increases by 48%,” BBC News, February 22, 2013.
Human smugglers were paying luxury yacht owners to bring in illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom, immigration officials reported.
Immigrants from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan were paying the human smuggling ring between $3,162 to $9,487 (£2,000 to £6,000) per person to be smuggled into the United Kingdom .
In the 2012 Fiscal Year, immigration enforcement services in the UK apprehended 9,000 people who were attempting to cross the Channel illegally.
Source: Anthony Bond, “Moment immigrant is arrested in crackdown against human trafficking as it is revealed luxury yacht owners are being paid to smuggle people into Britain,” Daily Mail, February 6, 2013.
