Soca completes IT overhaul

Bill Hughes, director general of Soca, will be happy with progress

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) says it has completed an overhaul of its IT systems on time and on budget to meet its operational needs.

Soca is intelligence-led and relies heavily on IT systems to use techniques such as data mining, where large amounts of database information are sifted to identify suspicious patterns.

In a previous annual report, the agency outlined a plan to improve IT by the end of its 2008/09 year so that its "main operational business and information-handling requirements are met".

The latest annual report, released yesterday, says the programme has now been completed.

"In June 2008 Soca established its information management programme, under which the planned IT improvements for 2008/09 were delivered to time and budget, ensuring that all staff who needed it had appropriate access to Soca’s core operational systems, and that the necessary in-year investments in systems and processes for Soca’s longer-term effectiveness were made," it says.

The agency said it was also a good year for its e-crime department – formerly the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit – which broke two significant cases.

It led the UK end of a long-term FBI undercover operation against the online criminal
forum DarkMarket, one of the largest web sites trading in stolen financial details.

The operation has seen 50 suspects arrested in Turkey, Germany, and the US as well as 12 in the UK. One prosecution was successfully brought against Adewale Taiwo, who received five years for conspiracy to defraud.

It also brought to trial the high-profile Sumitomo Mitsui case, one of the largest bank robberies ever attempted.

Five men received sentences of between three and eight years for the attempted robbery.

Soca says about £1.5m in assets was restrained and will be the subject of further action under the Proceeds of Crime Act.