FBI-style agency to target 'Mr Bigs'

Britain's new FBI-style crime-fighting agency was launched by the Government with a promise to crack down on the "Mr Bigs" of crime who are costing the country more than £20bn a year.

Gangsters, drug barons and people traffickers will be among the targets of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) to be chaired by Sir Stephen Lander, former head of MI5. It will have 4,200 staff, including 120 officers based in 40 foreign countries, and an annual budget of £400m. Soca's annual plan is to spend 40 per cent of its "operational effort" on drug trafficking, 25 per cent on organised immigration crime, 10 per cent on fraud and 15 per cent on other organised crime.

According to the Home Office, there are around 400 major crime bosses in the UK, with an amassed criminal wealth of about £440m.

Tony Blair said Britain could not fight 21st-century criminals with early 20th-century methods. Soca's director general, Bill Hughes, former head of the National Crime Squad, said: "The issue is to share intelligence and carry out joint operations."