Category: MEA

Regulatory Watch News

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  World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

  July 30, 2026

  Across the world, transnational organized crime groups are trafficking and exploiting thousands of people and forcing them to take part in industrial-scale financial fraud operations. This is a growing form of trafficking in persons for forced criminality, closely intertwined with cybercrime, financial fraud, money-laundering and corruption. In East and South-East Asia, UNODC estimates between US $18 billion and $37 billion financial losses from scams targeting victims in 2023 alone, with a high proportion of these losses attributes to scams committed by organized crime groups located in the region.

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  850 years in jail for criminals and £70m-worth of drugs seized by specialist Merseyside team

  National Crime Agency

  July 30, 2026

  More than 100 criminals linked to drug and gun crime in Merseyside have been jailed as a result of investigations by a specialist team formed in 2021. One-hundred-and-eight criminals are serving 851 years in prison for crimes including importing drugs, supplying guns and laundering money linked to serious and organised crime. Officers from Merseyside Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) have seized cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine worth up to £70m.

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  850 years in jail for criminals and £70m-worth of drugs seized by specialist Merseyside team

  National Crime Agency

  July 29, 2026

  More than 100 criminals linked to drug and gun crime in Merseyside have been jailed as a result of investigations by a specialist team formed in 2021. One-hundred-and-eight criminals are serving 851 years in prison for crimes including importing drugs, supplying guns and laundering money linked to serious and organised crime. Officers from Merseyside Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) have seized cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine worth up to £70m.