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Organised Crime (Northern Ireland)

I have listened carefully to what has been said by hon. Members who are more eloquent than me and who have far more understanding of the issues. As a relatively new member of the Committee, it has been a privilege to serve under the chairmanship of my hon. Friend the Member for South Staffordshire (Sir Patrick Cormack) and I compliment him and the Committee on the way in which the inquiry was conducted. The Committee made comprehensive recommendations and, as has already been said, was unanimous in doing so, which is quite something given the different views expressed. The financial costs of organised crime and the potential gains to criminal gangs are significant and continue to present a threat to the long-term stability of the economy and the communities of Northern Ireland. It is worth spending a moment assessing the size of the problem. The cost of intellectual property theft is estimated at £200 million. Drugs worth more than £7 million were seized by the PSNI in 2005-06. Some 35 million cigarettes were seized during the year, which amounts to almost £7 million in revenue. Environmental crime such as illegal dumping is worth at least £25 million to criminal gangs and extortion probably generates in excess of £10 million in criminal profits a year. The revenue lost from fuel smuggling and legitimate cross-border shopping is estimated to be £245 million. The Independent Monitoring Commission reported in 2005 that,"““because of…paramilitary involvement, organised crime is the biggest long term threat to the rule of law in Northern Ireland””" That is something that the report articulated well. Paramilitary-backed gangs have been responsible for some of the largest scale and most lucrative organised crime activities undertaken in Northern Ireland. Paramilitary groups have long relied on criminal means to finance their activities, and all paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have been heavily involved in organised crime, both as a principal means of raising finance for their organisations and, obviously, for personal gain. The disciplined structures of paramilitary organisations have allowed a smooth transition from terrorist organisations into profitable criminal ventures. Extortion in particular has long been used by paramilitary groups as a means of raising finance for their terrorist operations and, since the early 1970s, has been an effective means of exercising paramilitary control over the community. The point about the community, which has been articulated this afternoon, is of great concern to us all. However, there has been a move beyond traditional means of fundraising such as extortion and armed robbery towards more sophisticated and complex forms of crime, such as counterfeiting and smuggling. Those points were well articulated to us during our inquiries. There is evidence to show that funds from organised crime run by dissident republican organisations in particular have been used to fund attacks and threats against members of the police, the Army and the Prison Service. According to the Organised Crime Task Force,"““extortion remains endemic in parts of Northern Ireland””" but the true picture of the problem is far from clear. The true extent of Northern Ireland’s extortion problem is not reflected in the number of cases successfully prosecuted, as we have heard in the past. It is likely that less than 10 per cent. of extortion is reported to the police—I hope that the Minister understands that. There are also many difficulties in prosecuting such cases successfully. In approximately 85 per cent. of the cases reported, the victims decline to work with the PSNI during the investigation. When the PSNI has been able to conduct an investigation, every case has resulted in the extortionists being convicted, which is marvellous. We must focus on increasing the number of people who report the crime in the first place, and there is a real issue about how that process can be undertaken. What steps are being taken to make the public aware of those facts, to give them more confidence about reporting crime? Violent crimes are also a particular concern. The incidence of cash-in-transit robberies is increasing. The use of so-called tiger kidnaps, which were described and in which family members are taken hostage to compel an employee to facilitate a robbery from their place of work, is on the up. Perhaps the most notorious example of that was the Northern bank robbery in 2005. How many tiger kidnaps occur each year, and what advice is available to those who may be susceptible to that type of attack, to help them to protect themselves and their families? HMRC has made significant progress on combating oils fraud, as the report highlighted. However, the amount of illicit fuel sold in Northern Ireland remains unacceptably high. It costs the Treasury £245 million a year in lost revenue. HMRC assesses that nearly all its investigations relating to fuel on mainland Great Britain involve individuals from Northern Ireland. A particular problem is the misuse of rebated fuels—fuels on which a reduced rate of duty is payable—especially red diesel. The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee recommended, as my hon. Friend the Member for South Staffordshire and others said, reducing the level of tax paid on fuel in Northern Ireland to the same level as that in the Republic of Ireland to reduce smuggling. I believe that serious consideration should be given to changing the system to allow duty to be paid on fuel at the point of sale—as in the Danish model, in which rebates are reclaimed and offset against VAT returns—rather than at the refinery gate, as is currently the case. Given the health and safety, as well as the financial, implications of laundering rebated fuels, and the extortion and intimidation that often accompany that, will the Minister reconsider his position and conduct a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of that recommendation? Counterfeit cigarettes, which were talked about, are a major problem. According to the Organised Crime Task Force, smuggling"““remains one of the most lucrative forms of organised criminal activity.””" Counterfeit goods are of poor quality and carry health and safety risks. Illegal cigarettes carry an additional health risk because of increased levels of cadmium and lead and significantly higher levels of tar and nicotine. As we heard from the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Stephen Pound), they are sold mainly through informal networks—family, friends, pubs and street corners. What steps are the Government taking to increase public awareness of the greater health risks associated with illegal cigarettes, as applicable in Northern Ireland as elsewhere in the United Kingdom? There is an illicit market in spirits in the UK, which costs about £250 million a year—an enormous amount. Counterfeit alcohol has serious health implications as well. The risk of it being sold to children through unlicensed sources is enormously potent. That factor is important in all that we discuss, because I do not believe for a moment that people are necessarily buying these goods for themselves. They spread them around their communities and families, so the goods affect more people than just those who buy them. We must consider that extremely carefully in any further reports that we produce on the topic. Crime is a community issue. Individuals may be part of the problem, and they may be participating in the activity as a part of paramilitary organisations, as the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) pointed out, but it is the question how far it extends into the community that is so important to us. Support for the police in tackling crime must go to the very top of the agenda. All the issues that I have mentioned are very important. The figures speak for themselves—