SAS Catching the Criminals S01E07 (2024)

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SAS Catching the Criminals S01E07 (2024)
Transcript
00:00Covert surveillance, reconnaissance, deception, stealth and disruption.
00:07These are the skills I learnt on the military front line
00:11and they can be used to combat a different enemy.
00:15Britain's criminals.
00:20That's the teams running to position now.
00:22My name is Billy Billingham and I've spent over 20 years in the SAS.
00:29Now I'm going to show you how SAS tactics are helping to crack down
00:34on anti-social crime across Britain.
00:37All teams now in position.
00:39Strike, strike, strike.
00:40Some enforcement agencies are already using SAS tactics to hunt criminals.
00:45Check this out. This is exactly what they were looking for.
00:49Hey, presto.
00:51And I want to find out how much the police are doing too.
00:54Go, go, go.
00:57She's going to pick up a target right now.
00:59You're lying, aren't you? And you know very well it's illegal.
01:02You need to move quick. Stand by.
01:04Banged up, job done.
01:20Sometimes the crimes you fear the most are not the most shocking ones.
01:24And the truth is, whether you're a hardened military veteran or a civilian,
01:29having your possessions stolen is a big deal.
01:36It's 06.30 hours.
01:38I'm en route to an operational briefing with the police in Cheshire
01:42about a gang of suspected keyless car thieves.
01:45Myself and the Cheshire force are going to pay them a rapid visit
01:49this morning on a simultaneous strike,
01:51just like we used to back in the day in the SAS.
01:54Early morning, early rise.
01:56But these people are going to get a surprise, so stand by.
02:00The latest figures from the DVLA show a car is stolen every eight minutes across the UK.
02:07And keyless car theft is the main culprit.
02:10It's high-tech, but it's simple.
02:13Electronic devices trick the car into thinking its own key fob is close by.
02:18Criminals use different systems, but the outcome is the same.
02:22Doors open, ignition on, suspect escapes.
02:27Morning.
02:29Right, morning, everyone. Thanks for coming.
02:32We've had approximately 40-plus Ford Cougar and Ford Focus models stolen.
02:37The offenders are believed to be using devices,
02:40such as code grabbers and OBD devices,
02:43in order to unlock the vehicles they select
02:46and clone the keyless stop-start functionality of them.
02:50Within a minute, they can have this vehicle cloned and be away.
02:54They'll make a spare key in the process of it all,
02:57and effectively it renders the genuine key useless.
03:01So our intention today is to execute five PACE warrants.
03:04Simultaneously, searches will take place at each address,
03:07looking to recover items used in connection with the keyless thefts.
03:10There's no questions.
03:11We'll leave it there, get kitted up and get ready to get out.
03:15Tim has been working on this operation since its conception,
03:19with more than 40 cars suspected to be stolen by this gang.
03:23He's an expert on their MO.
03:25What do they do with these cars?
03:27These cars, you can walk up and steal them within minutes.
03:29You've got technology in these devices, you can walk up,
03:31you can unlock it, you can get in the car and it can be gone.
03:34How have you built up your intel for today's strike?
03:36There's been intelligence picturing of people
03:38who've been quite hard to develop.
03:40We've had a bit of an idea for a while of who's been up to it,
03:43but it's actually gathered evidence.
03:45So we've managed to recover a couple of stolen vehicles
03:49from the forensic strategy that's followed that.
03:52We've managed to identify certain individuals.
03:54Fingerprints and all that sort of stuff?
03:56Fingerprints, DNA inside the car.
03:58There's a big intel picture around what's actually happened to the cars.
04:01We don't know where they're going just yet.
04:03We suspect they're going to chop shops and being cut up,
04:07and the parties holding the black market.
04:09But we're hoping to fill them gaps today.
04:14Chop shops. Slang for the garage where the stolen cars are stripped.
04:19Finding evidence there is key to prove the case against the gang.
04:23It's the one unknown in this operation.
04:27Four months of planning. It all comes down to this.
04:32All the teams have been briefed now, got their task.
04:35Split into different targets or different houses they're going to go and visit.
04:39And it'll be a simultaneous strike under Tim's command.
04:42So, stand by.
04:46Five teams are moving into position.
04:49The man we're after is also wanted for suspected arson and conspiracy to supply drugs.
04:57What are you expecting from him?
04:59Get cocky and try and play the game or run?
05:02He's not running.
05:03Right.
05:04He's quite manipulative.
05:06Oh, yeah. He'll have plenty to say.
05:08Yeah.
05:13Hintel on this suspect has painted an unusual picture.
05:16He's been staying in a hotel which affects the technique the team will use today.
05:22There will be a number of different methods of entry.
05:25Some will be more aggressive because it's needed to be.
05:27And the ones where there'll be a soft approach, as we would call it, back in the day.
05:33We're going to go on a suspect that is in a public place.
05:37So, that will require a covert move to the entry point and then a soft opening.
05:43He's going to be in for a pretty rude awakening.
05:45He's probably expecting to get up at 10 o'clock, go and collect himself a car.
05:49Swift move to the entry point.
05:59We scale the perimeter, quick and quiet.
06:03He's on target now.
06:07I've never been given a key to where a suspect is bedding down before.
06:12But the police still can't get in.
06:16The suspect has bolted the door from the inside.
06:22And now he's awake.
06:25He's a difficult customer.
06:34He's stalling.
06:36The team have to think on their feet.
06:38Evidence needs to be preserved.
06:40They have to get inside fast.
06:42Open the door now!
06:44Police, the door's going in!
06:46Open it now!
06:48Open the door!
06:50Get the ram! Get the ram!
06:52Five seconds going in.
06:54Police!
06:56I'm getting you back!
06:58I'm getting you back now!
07:00I'm getting you back!
07:02Oh, come on.
07:04Show it.
07:06You have multiple opportunities to open the door.
07:08Arson, reckless to endanger life,
07:10conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs,
07:13and conspiracy to steal motor vehicles.
07:15The suspect is coughed.
07:17A situation that could have escalated as being swiftly shut down,
07:21with tactics I'm used to using in the SAS.
07:25So basically what you had there was a classic case of soft entry.
07:28He was given the opportunity to answer the door, started to play games.
07:31They gave him a warning, which he was obviously taking into consideration
07:34everybody else around him, and then they had to do what they had to do.
07:37Force entry, detain him under force,
07:39and he's now handcuffed and ready to be taken away.
07:42So, job done.
07:45Phase one of this operation, complete.
07:48Happy with that, though?
07:50Yeah, more than happy. Bit of trouble getting in.
07:52What do you reckon he was trying to do to delay that entry there?
07:55We don't know. He could have been trying to hide things.
07:57When we did come in, there was a phone on.
07:59At the moment, we'd rang somebody to ring somebody and alert their offenders,
08:03and that's the importance of trying to get into an address as quick as we can.
08:06Unfortunately, you have to wear up in situations like this.
08:08It's a hotel door. Are we going to cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to a door?
08:12Or do we try the knock on first?
08:14Unfortunately, he'd locked the door behind.
08:16What he was doing inside, we don't know. We're never going to know.
08:19I don't think he's going to tell us either.
08:21But I think it's just a case of we got in there rapid as we can.
08:24He had an opportunity to open the door immediately.
08:26He didn't want to do it. You give him probably a warning,
08:28and then basically forced entry as you needed to.
08:31So it's minimum force at the right time.
08:35A detailed search will now begin.
08:37The area is small, a bedroom and a bathroom.
08:40But as I know from experience, there are still plenty of places to stash evidence.
08:46The search team will go through every little bit of equipment,
08:50starting with the obvious things, the phones, any computer stuff that might be in there,
08:54any paperwork, and looking for the obvious thing, and then any little nook and cranny.
08:58The search goes deep. Nothing will be left unturned.
09:11For every theft, there's a victim.
09:14And sometimes, when something gets taken, it can never be replaced.
09:20For Naomi and her family, this tragic tale highlights a very common problem.
09:26Her son Callum was a proud owner of a sporty hatchback.
09:30Keyless, top spec, and for safety, fitted with a crook lock.
09:35He did overtime every day of the week to afford that car,
09:39and he was really proud of himself, and he had a list of the things he wanted.
09:43So he wanted these special wheels and the panoramic sunroof.
09:46Every single thing on his checklist for that Golf was on that car.
09:50It was his pride and joy.
09:53But Callum had another reason to worship this car.
09:56He bought it partly in memory of his younger brother, Jamie.
10:00We lost Jamie New Year 2022 to a cardiac arrest.
10:07He was car mad, same as Callum. They just loved them.
10:10So when Callum obviously lost his brother,
10:13I think part of the reason he bought that Golf and he saved so hard for that Golf
10:17was because he knows that that's the car that Jamie would have wanted.
10:20He'd said to me, you know, how would you feel about me having Jamie with me in the car,
10:25having some of his ashes with me in the car?
10:27And, well, obviously, once I stopped crying at the thought of him even saying that,
10:31I thought, what a lovely idea.
10:33I think he just felt a little bit of comfort from that.
10:37But in February last year, a gang of thieves turned their lives upside down.
10:42It was just a normal night.
10:45We were all in bed. Callum got up for work, quarter to five as normal.
10:51And I heard him open the front door.
10:53He then shouted up the stairs, my car's gone.
10:57I jumped out of bed, obviously, so did my husband.
11:01Came running down the stairs and Callum was just devastated at the front door.
11:05He was just standing with his head in his hands
11:07and I could just see the colour had drained out of his face.
11:10The first thing that went through his head was that his brother's ashes were missing.
11:14Naomi quickly checked the CCTV footage from their doorbell
11:18and made a devastating discovery.
11:21The car's there at ten to four and Callum had got up at ten to five,
11:25so there was literally an hour missing.
11:28And then we quickly realised that the doorbell had been turned off
11:32and we found out the next day from the police
11:35that these criminals have the technology to be able to take your Wi-Fi down
11:40and they'd got the technology to start the car.
11:44Naomi decided to use technology herself and turn detective.
11:48We went round every single house on the estate.
11:50We managed to retrieve all the CCTV
11:52and these were really clear images of these two men walking up and down the street,
11:57basically clocking the cars.
11:59We'd seen that they'd approached our driveway from our other neighbour's driveway
12:02so that they wouldn't have been clocked before they took the Wi-Fi down.
12:06I mean, it was almost so clever, the way they'd done it,
12:09and I hate the fact that I have to call them clever by saying that,
12:12but it was so clever how they'd sort of calculated it.
12:15Naomi thought the ordeal was over,
12:17but just 24 hours later, her family had a terrifying experience.
12:22My phone went off about four o'clock in the morning, the sound of my doorbell,
12:26as I picked up my mobile phone on my bedside table.
12:30I could see the criminal's face on my phone.
12:33There was a mask, grey hood up,
12:36and he was kind of leaning over, bent towards my front door.
12:42So I quickly shouted,
12:44my husband, wake up, they're back, they've come back.
12:48So my husband shot down the stairs, I shouted for Callum
12:51and he quickly jumped out of bed and shot down the stairs as well.
12:54I noticed that there was a...
12:56..like a nappy sack bag on my doorstep, the blue bag,
12:59and when I looked a little bit closer,
13:02I could see that there was a very sentimental box was in the bag
13:06that had contained some of our other son's ashes.
13:10Naomi called the police immediately,
13:12who told her not to touch it until they arrived.
13:15The sergeant came out to take a statement
13:17and he also came out to pick up the evidence
13:19that had been left on the doorstep.
13:21The police opened the bag when they were here.
13:23And the box that had contained Jamie's ashes was empty.
13:33Which, we can imagine, was just even more devastating for Callum.
13:38The people that believe that car theft is a victimless crime
13:41because the only people that pay are the insurance company,
13:44they truly haven't got a clue what actually goes through you
13:47when your car is stolen.
13:49Especially when there's something in it that, yes, all right,
13:52we shouldn't leave stuff in our cars overnight,
13:55but show me one person that doesn't have something
13:57left in their car overnight.
13:59The thieves are still at large and the car was never found.
14:03But despite all they have been through,
14:05Naomi's determined not to let them win.
14:08And one way she's fighting back is through a foundation
14:11she's set up in Jamie's name,
14:13to raise money for defibrillators and car theft.
14:17To raise money for defibrillators in the local community.
14:25You have to draw some sort of positive
14:27and Jamie was the most positive person in the world
14:30and he wouldn't let us be angry.
14:32So we go back to looking after his foundation
14:35and working hard to make sure that more lives are saved
14:38because that's what he was meant to do and that's his legacy.
14:48BELL RINGS
14:53Back in Cheshire, the team are still carrying out
14:56a fingertip search of the suspect's hotel room.
15:01What specifically right now, Tim, are you looking for?
15:03Or is it just a general search and whatever turns up?
15:06We're looking for specific items, such as the device
15:08that they may have used to commit the theft,
15:10but also there's been some CCTV footage.
15:13Unfortunately, the quality's not that great,
15:15but it does show clothing, that's what I'm by the offence of the time.
15:18So we've got screenshots of that and what we're actually doing
15:21is looking for clothing that matches that description.
15:23Got you.
15:25That's an example of some of your items that we're looking for.
15:29It can look like...
15:31Yeah, like key fobs. Yeah.
15:34With any crime network, communication is key.
15:38He's got a small disposable phone over there,
15:41which is under a pillow as well.
15:44As well as his iPhone over here. Yeah.
15:47Are these his actual specific things?
15:50Yeah, so from telecoms enquiries that we do throughout the investigation,
15:53we can identify what handset each SIM card's been in
15:56and both handsets that I'm looking for are here, which is positive.
16:00These mobile phones and SIM cards have already been linked
16:04to the suspected car thefts.
16:06Finding them here is a crucial piece of evidence.
16:09While my team are getting results,
16:12there have been four over-coordinated strikes.
16:15The operation's aim is to take down the whole gang at once.
16:23Method of entry, reciprocating saws,
16:26strong enough to cut through most barriers.
16:32No amount of deadlocks on this door will stop the team from getting in.
16:38Police! Police!
16:41The suspect is caught short.
16:45We're having some boxes short.
16:47Get him out to your van. Get him out to your van.
16:49No, no, he's not getting boxes off. He's getting two boxes.
16:52Modestly covered, he's arrested,
16:54and the search for evidence that may link him to the thefts can begin.
17:01In the garage...
17:02That's not got a number plate on it, so he needs to find a chassis number.
17:06..a quad bike.
17:08Not the gang's usual target, but the team think it could have been stolen.
17:12So the quad bike's got no number plates on it.
17:15The ignition barrel is missing,
17:17and there's quite a lot of wires that have been pulled out,
17:20and we can't find any VIN numbers on it currently.
17:23Up here, it's caked in mud.
17:25But they'll get a stolen vehicle examiner to go over that
17:28and hopefully identify whether it is a stolen vehicle or not.
17:31An in-depth search of the whole house will take time,
17:35but being meticulous is leading to results at my strike site.
17:41Every little thing at the moment is adding up.
17:44A technical attack, which has identified the phones,
17:47the exact phones that they were looking for,
17:49and the clothing and various other items which have been seen on CCTV
17:53and now pinpointed to be the exact same.
17:57More evidence that links that person to that crime.
18:06SIREN WAILS
18:13The more time I spend with the police, it's becoming clearer to me
18:17that intel and surveillance can often lead to the most extraordinary discovery.
18:24Sometimes the further you dig, the more criminality you find,
18:28until you make an extraordinary discovery.
18:31I made it to Greater Manchester Police Headquarters
18:34to hear about a landmark case, codenamed Glassy.
18:39Detective Inspector Joe Harrop was a lead investigator.
18:44Afternoon, Joe. Nice to meet you. You all right?
18:47Yeah. Can you tell us all about Op Glassy?
18:50Yeah, so Operation Glassy initially stemmed from intelligence sent to us,
18:54which was the, for want of a better word, the hacking by law enforcement
18:58of encrypted communications used by organised crime groups.
19:01Almost like, I'd describe it as like the criminal WhatsApp.
19:05So initially that came to us as intelligence to suggest
19:08that particular individuals had access to these phones,
19:11and we got a snapshot of what they were talking about.
19:14These decrypted conversations pointed the police straight
19:18to an organised crime group based in Manchester,
19:21and revealed they were involved in importing and supplying drugs
19:25on a massive scale.
19:27But the intel also uncovered a more chilling discovery.
19:31They were dealing firearms too.
19:35More worryingly, from a police perspective,
19:37they had access to a large amount of weaponry.
19:41What weapons have we actually got here?
19:43So we've got two Grand Power pistols,
19:46and then we've got Scorpion submachine guns, for want of a better word.
19:50So we know that they imported at least 48 of each,
19:55and the majority of those they've sold.
19:59Scorpion machine guns are manufactured in the Czech Republic,
20:03and were originally developed for use by security forces and the army.
20:07It's just scary. I mean, I use weapons every day,
20:10probably like your firearms guys do,
20:12and I know how indiscriminate these things are in the hands of people
20:16that know how to use them, and that weapon alone,
20:19with one magazine, could kill up to 30 people.
20:21Yeah, they don't know how to use them properly.
20:23They haven't got a policing background, they haven't got military experience,
20:27so the risk to the public is massive.
20:29With access to deadly weapons,
20:31the police knew they had to shut down the gang fast.
20:35But the encrypted phone messages alone
20:37weren't enough evidence for an airtight case against the suspects.
20:42So they took a leaf out of the SAS handbook.
20:45So we started with surveillance activity on some of the key individuals
20:49to sort of evidence their association
20:51and to try and prove what criminality they were involved in.
20:54So that meant foot surveillance, mobile surveillance,
20:56to show that they were meeting up, to link them to addresses,
20:59to identify what cars they were driving.
21:03And a picture started to emerge showing the scale of their criminal activity.
21:10So the group set up a fictitious company.
21:12So they had a business, business premises, they had HGV routes,
21:16and they tried to disguise it through legitimate importations
21:20of things like hand sanitiser,
21:22but in reality they were bringing drugs and weapons.
21:24And where are the weapons coming from?
21:26From Eastern Europe.
21:29They shadowed these suspects, gathering more and more evidence.
21:34The surveillance was invaluable in this particular job.
21:36Obviously, they create criminals.
21:38They potentially have a second address, they have almost like a second life.
21:41We didn't want to lock them up there,
21:43we wanted to lock them up in the criminal properties.
21:45Because of surveillance, we could do that.
21:48It also led police to a stash house,
21:51where the suspects were hiding the contraband.
21:54It was time to strike.
21:56So we got to the point where we were happy with their stash house.
21:59So then we went through the door.
22:01The evidence they found was shocking.
22:04So we recovered two scorpions, some machine guns,
22:06and two gunpowders from one particular address.
22:08There was over 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
22:10So they were well equipped to use these weapons.
22:14Just shot £700,000 in cash, in a suitcase.
22:18So in terms of physical recoveries, significant.
22:21Obviously, Op Glassy was a massive success for you guys,
22:25a massive operation.
22:26Yeah, so in terms of a farm supply investigation,
22:30this is the biggest and most successful one that there's ever been in the UK.
22:33Wow, fantastic, mate.
22:35What sort of sentences are these people getting for this?
22:38Really good sentences.
22:40So the head of the OCG is a chap called Omar Malik.
22:43He got 38 years in prison.
22:45Wow.
22:46And then those under him, you're looking at around 28, 30 years each.
22:50That's good.
22:51Yeah, really good.
22:52That's great.
22:53Good deterrence.
22:54Lengthy jail sentences
22:56and an operation using SAS trademarks led to a successful strike.
23:01I mean, this is absolutely a classic perfect example
23:05of a perfect operation, from surveillance, time spent, hours,
23:09the dangers that are involved into that,
23:11and then to the final result of a strike
23:13and putting these scumbags behind bars.
23:18Back in Cheshire, the suspected car thief gang
23:21have all had their early-morning wake-up calls.
23:25How much more to do in here, Tim, do you think?
23:27I think we've completed our searches
23:29and everything's getting bagged up, labelled up correctly before we move on.
23:34In relation to the addresses, it's been quite successful.
23:37We've had all our suspects arrested at each address,
23:39so the searches have finished up at them addresses as well.
23:42But there's one other crucial part of this network, the chop shop.
23:49Without it and a willing accomplice to do the handiwork,
23:52the suspects can't convert cars into cash.
23:55This is the final piece of the evidential jigsaw.
23:59Back in the day of being in the regiment,
24:01I mean, you'd do a strike, you'd hit a target,
24:03going after a specific thing,
24:05and then that would lead to something else.
24:07In our case, it may lead to a bomb factory, a weapons hide.
24:11This is kind of similar to that, and that is what we're doing right now.
24:14This was always the unknown element of today's operation.
24:18Finding evidence here could make or break the case against the suspects.
24:23And here we are, arriving on scene.
24:27Entry made, shutter sawn, result.
24:35Unconventional entrance made.
24:37And bingo, look what we find.
24:39Stolen engine one, two.
24:42Probably about 50 or 60 tyres over there.
24:45Bits and pieces from family cars, you know, innocent families.
24:50Could have been a doctor, could be a nurse, could be a teacher.
24:53It doesn't matter. Stolen property.
24:55And it's all stacked up in here as evidence.
24:59Andy is overseeing the operation here.
25:02Hey, Andy. How you doing, mate?
25:04Nice to meet you.
25:05Nice to meet you. So what did you actually get here?
25:07As you can see, there's stolen engine parts.
25:09There'll be front ends of vehicles, rear ends of vehicles.
25:12There's believed to be a stolen vehicle in the rear,
25:15as well as another vehicle that we need to check the engine number.
25:20Some of the engines are recently, like five days old, that have been stolen.
25:24And there's a vehicle in there that's potentially been stolen very recently as well.
25:28So it's not an old investigation, it's very quick.
25:30That's pretty speedy work there, then. Yeah.
25:33The number of cars and spare parts stashed here shows the scale of this conspiracy.
25:39The vehicle still in one piece will be the easiest to ID.
25:46Out of Pandora's box comes a stolen item,
25:50which, just looking inside, you've still got kiddies' bits and pieces in there.
25:54Just a family car, probably.
25:56Innocent people and stolen away from them.
25:59And there's the result, chopped up, sold on, bits and pieces.
26:03But while car theft across the UK is rife,
26:06Dr Ken German, who worked in the Metropolitan Police Stolen Vehicle Squad,
26:11knows some strategies to fight back.
26:14I think advice nowadays for anybody trying to hang on to their car
26:18is that you've got to be innovative.
26:20We know, really, we should put a crook lock on nowadays.
26:23Park, perhaps, an inferior car in front of it.
26:26Park it sideways.
26:28So you need some sort of barrier, you know, a locked gate,
26:31perhaps one of these bars that come from the...
26:33that's locked in the centre of the driveway.
26:36But what you've got to do is make every effort to stop them just driving it away,
26:40because you hear a bleep, you see a flash, and the car is gone.
26:46In the chop shop, it's too late for these owners.
26:50Linking the small car parts to the thefts
26:53will take detailed investigative work.
26:56So what happens next now?
26:58So we've obviously executed the warrants,
27:00and then we withdraw, forensics come in,
27:03find out who's been using the premises via clothing and other,
27:07just for fingerprints inside the stolen vehicles.
27:10Then from there, the Stolen Vehicle Squad
27:12will come and take the engines away, take the vehicles away,
27:15and then we'll go and do a search after that.
27:17So it's just deep searches now for each department
27:19to get worried evidence and information they can?
27:21Yeah.
27:23The team will work into the night,
27:25tying up all the evidence and connecting the dots,
27:28while we go back to the station to build a case against the suspects.
27:32What a successful day.
27:34We've found a location with all the lock-ups, all the stolen vehicles.
27:37That's being dealt with now, and that will lead to more arrests.
27:40Overall, a great success.
27:47Taking down organised crime groups takes patience.
27:51Just like complex military operations,
27:53things don't just happen overnight.
27:56But hopefully, the results are worth waiting for.
28:21[♪upbeat music playing♪♪.