Home Secretary Priti Patel named Graeme Biggar CBE as NCA Director General to tackle severe and organised crime and bring narcotics and human traffickers to justice.
Since October 2021, Mr. Biggar has commanded the NCA. He led the UK’s crackdown on kleptocracy, illegal financing, and child sexual abuse.
During this period, the NCA has disrupted more crimes and targeted more dangerous offenders. NCA has:
- taken decisive action to crack down on people smugglers, resulting in the arrest of 244 offenders outside of the UK
- increased disruptions against modern slavery, protecting over 900 people
- seized around 250 tonnes of Class A drugs and dismantled eight global networks facilitating the supply of illegal firearms
- increased disruptions of fraud, including working with international partners to facilitate the recovery of proceeds of fraud for repatriation to victims across the world
- frozen more than £358 million of criminal assets
- led the implementation of a cross-law enforcement ransomware threat group, protecting the UK economy from losses of at least £600 million
- helped coordinate activity across local police forces against online child sexual abuse, which is seeing about 800 arrests or voluntary attendances, and around 1,000 children safeguarded or protected every month.
He will concentrate on targeting cyber criminals and destroying severe and organised crime gangs trading narcotics and illicit weaponry and abusing vulnerable individuals.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said:
Serious and organised crime, the gangs and violence bring misery to our streets. As well as exploiting children and the vulnerable, this criminality also costs more than £37 billion a year to our economy.
Going after the criminals who profit from human misery, abuse our children and citizens and show no regard for our borders and laws is what I and Graeme continue to drive.
From dismantling people smuggling networks through the biggest illegal migration law enforcement operation across Europe to bringing the monsters who sexually abuse children in the UK and abroad to justice, Graeme and his remarkable NCA team have an outstanding track record of delivery.
I have put the right resources and skills into the NCA, including increases to the Agency’s budget and additional resources to tackle new and emerging threats. The UK’s National Crime Agency is world leading and in a formidable position to tackle some of the most complex global threats we face and to help make our streets and our country safer.
Following an honest and transparent hiring procedure, Mr. Biggar has now been appointed for a period of five years.
Having held the position of Director General of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) at the NCA between 2019 and 2021, Mr. Biggar has a plethora of expertise.
He has previously held top posts in the Ministry of Defence and other government agencies, as well as director for national security at the Home Office and chief of staff to the defence secretary.
As Director of National Security for the Home Office, he supervised the implementation of the Investigatory Powers Act and contributed to shaping the response to the Salisbury poisoning incident and the 2017 terrorist strikes.
Graeme Biggar CBE, Director General of the NCA, said:
I am delighted to have been asked to lead the National Crime Agency. The Agency’s mission – to protect the public from serious and organised crime – has never been more important.
Serious and organised crime is chronic, corrosive and complex. The people and groups behind it have global reach, are technically sophisticated and digitally-enabled.
In response, the Agency must focus upstream, overseas and online – while continuing to work with our partners systematically to target criminals, bring them to justice and reduce the harm they cause.
It has been a privilege to lead our officers over the past ten months. I will continue to support them in protecting the public while ensuring we operate with the highest integrity and standards
The Director General oversees 6,000 officers stationed in the UK and abroad as the head of the NCA.
The DG sets the NCA’s operational goals and makes ensuring the organisation is gathering accurate information, conducting fruitful inquiries, and leading the entire UK law enforcement effort to combat serious and organised crime.
The NCA is a non-ministerial department in its own right and is operationally autonomous from the Home Office, despite the fact that the DG reports to the Home Secretary.