HC Deb 12 June 2002 vol 386 cc1305-6W
Mr. Mike O'Brien

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the merger of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise investigation teams into drug and migrant trafficking with NCIS and NCS to create a new organisation relating to international and national organised crime. [58358]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

There are no present plans to merge Customs and Excise investigative teams with those from the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and the National Crime Squad (NCS).

Customs, NCIS and NCS work closely together to tackle organised crime threats including drug trafficking and people smuggling. We have established multi-agency working groups to co-ordinate the response to key threats, including the Concerted Interagency Drug Action Group (CIDA) for class A drug trafficking and REFLEX for organised immigration crime, which involve key law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Mr. Mike O'Brien

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will merge NCIS and the NCS. [58356]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

There are no present plans to merge the National Criminal Intelligence Service with the National Crime Squad.