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Yard detectives use Facebook to spy on gangs
Justin Davenport and Ken Hyder24 Apr 2008
Detectives are using social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to target criminals and gangs.
A secret Scotland Yard squad is trawling the internet to gather intelligence on the identity and activities of criminals ranging from killers to fraudsters.
Undercover detectives are infiltrating forums and chatrooms and, according to senior officers, finding evidence of gangsters bragging about previous crimes - and ones they are about to commit.
The Open Source Team is part of the Met Intelligence Bureau.
Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Hewitt, head of the MIB, said: "Criminals, like the general public, are increasingly using technology to communicate or as a tool to organise their crimes.
"The internet offers a wealth of information that we are able to monitor and use to prevent and detect crimes.
"We are seeing occasions where chatrooms and social networking sites are being used to boast about crimes. Cutting-edge techniques and technology - as well as good old-fashioned thorough intelligence work - is enabling us to turn the tables on the criminals."
The cyber detectives are trained to monitor websites without leaving a trace or revealing their own identities.
They can quickly build up an intelligence picture on criminals for other specialist squads who ask for their help.
Detectives can be spying on people suspected of bringing guns into the country, drug dealers and gangs or individuals suspected of extreme violence.
Analysts are becoming increasingly skilled at gathering information such as telephone numbers and street names which link criminal associates.
Often gangsters post photographs of themselves or their cars on networking sites. In one case, the intelligence bureau was told that a youth was pictured on MySpace carrying what appeared to be a Mach 10 sub-machine gun.
The team traced a 15-year-old from the Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham.
He was arrested and pleaded guilty in court to possessing an imitation firearm. He was given a 10-month referral order and a £70 fine.
Police have evidence of rival postcode gangs taunting each other by posting messages and videos on the internet.
Earlier this month, the Old Bailey heard how Paul Erhahon, 14, was stabbed through the heart by a gang called the Cathall Street Bois who regularly boasted about their activities on websites such as YouTube.
In some cases the boasts have led to arrests and police now suspect the gangs are using their own computer experts to escape surveillance.
