Home secretary unveils strategy to target 30,000 criminals with more powers to seize assets and close front businesses

Between 25,000 and 30,000 criminals are involved in the “long tail” of a serious organised crime business in Britain that is worth more than £30bn a year, according to a government study.

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, has endorsed a renewed “Al Capone-style” drive to use tax powers to target organised criminals, providing stronger powers to seize assets and shut down front organisations such as saunas and massage parlours.

The study warns of an explosion in new criminal activities as a result of the recession, including sharp increases in “phishing” – taking over bank accounts – the flourishing trade in counterfeit goods and a boom in other types of financial fraud.

The joint report, by the Cabinet Office’s strategy unit and the Home Office, does not directly criticise the performance of the beleaguered three-year-old Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) but it says much tighter oversight is needed by ministers to keep a grip on the problem.

The Home Office said a “strategic centre” for organised crime would be created in the department to clearly define roles in tackling drug trafficking, organised immigration crime and organised fraud. Further action will be taken next summer if needed.

At the same time the capacity of the police is to be augmented by a further four regional asset recovery teams to complete the network across England and Wales. Each will have tax inspector attached and the Home Office is to extend the legal power to “reverse the burden of proof” in civil recovery cases to make it easier to seize assets of those in organised crime.

Renewed efforts to break up organised gangs even after conviction will be made through an attempt to ban the use of mobile phones in prisons and curb the “abuse” of legally privileged visits between lawyers and clients.

The strategy was published as Home Office research placed a question mark over the credibility of Britain’s controls on people trafficking. A Home Office study, based on interviews with 45 convicted people smugglers, found that Britain was seen as a “relatively easy” market offering healthy profits. Those questioned were, however, surprised at the severity of their sentences.

Home Office polling data published today also shows that the public have little recognition that money generated by sales of pirate and counterfeit goods can flow into the criminal economy. The estimate of 25,000 to 30,000 involved in organised crime in Britain is said to include the “lifetime criminals who form the durable core of organised crime groups and loose criminal networks, through to the clusters of subordinates, specialists and others at the lower end of organised criminality”. This covers the “top of the chain” through to the “long tail” of organised crime.

Soca says more than 5,000 of them are already on its radar.

The £30bn a year estimate covers the total cost of economic and social harm caused by organised crime. This figure breaks down into £17.6bn in the costs of drug-related crime, £7.8bn in financial fraud, £4.1bn in smuggling of spirits, tobacco and diesel and £2.4bn a year in organised immigration crime.

The Cabinet Office strategy unit also warns that the recession is creating new opportunities for organised criminals. They cite an increased risk of loan-sharking and trading in counterfeit goods, with a warning of a rise in gang-related violence as they battle for market share.

The banking crisis has also made the public more susceptible to frauds that offer high returns on investments; an increase in “phishing” scams has led to a 75% increase in illegitimate access to victims’ bank accounts in the first three months of 2009 alone.

Another threat comes in the form of a rise in cases of cybercrime, with the number of malware – malicious software programme – attacks on IT systems increasing by 250% last year.

Ministers are also concerned about growing links between weak and failing states and organised crime. Gangs are increasingly basing themselves in places such as Somalia, where drug trafficking networks are increasingly located.

The home secretary said the new strategy went further than ever in taking the fight to organised criminals.

But Deputy Chief Constable Jon Murphy, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said political decisions could be behind a gap between the scale of the problem and the ability of law enforcement agencies to tackle it. “I think we all acknowledge that gap does exist. Why does it exist?” said Murphy. “Arguably, it could be because it’s a political decision. I think equally it’s because of the changing nature of criminality.

“British organised crime gangs are fluid, flexible and opportunistic. There are no set ranks, rules or structures which you can see with international crime gangs.”