The National Crime Agency (NCA) said 10 known sex offenders traveled to the country in the six weeks following the Russian invasion. All 10 men were told to leave Poland after being interviewed by immigration and law enforcement officers, and British authorities are working to prevent others from traveling. “For us, it’s to let mates know that these convicted child sex offenders are on their turf, for obvious reasons,” an NCA spokesman said. “There are at least 5,000 unaccompanied children displaced from Ukraine. Making sure they are safe is absolutely paramount.” Officials said convicted pedophiles are meant to declare their criminal records in the countries they visit, but “inevitably we find that they have not”. Currently, efforts are focused on preventing sex offenders from traveling to Poland or other countries, if not “for the right reasons”, and removing them if they have not followed the rules. The issue is among a “whole range of threats that have emerged or been reinforced by this conflict” the Ukrainian war, the NCA said. They include modern slavery, human trafficking and organized immigration crime affecting refugees. Police and security agencies are also concerned about a possible “leakage” of firearms and weapons. There have also been increases in illegal financing, cybercrime and fraud, including the creation of websites claiming to be aid organizations in an attempt to receive donations intended for Ukrainians. The NCA is leading the UK’s response to organized crime affected by the Ukraine war and has also created an Anti-Kleptocracy Cell to target “corrupt elites” linked to Russia and other enemy states. Kleptocracy describes the corruption that occurs when state leaders and those associated with them take money generated from within their nations, such as from natural resources, for personal gain and spend or hide it in countries elsewhere. No Russian oligarch immune or exempt from sanctions, says security minister The cell focuses on people who have used UK assets to store, hide and grow their wealth. The core uses covert tactics to capture sensitive information to try to inform government and private sector decisions. It also targets “enablers”, which can include auction houses, estate agents, lawyers and security companies. Several arrests have been made, but no charges have yet emerged for the activity. The Anti-Kleptocracy Cell is not specifically targeting Russia, but the country is one of several said to have “corrupt elites” that British authorities now want to disrupt. The NCA believes its efforts are already having a deterrent effect, with some targets linked to Vladimir Putin’s regime already divested of assets in the UK as Russian-owned property explodes in the UAE and other nations. The NCA said it wanted to push back against the “Londongrad concept, the idea that people were free to come in with their money and do whatever they liked”. “There will always be opportunities for people to move their assets elsewhere,” a spokesman added. “Clearly some have decided that the UK is no longer for them.”
