The famous Rock apes of Gibraltar are to be given contraception, because while the population of Barbary macaques is growing out of control, local people will not countenance a cull of one of their greatest tourist attractions. Contraceptives will be hidden in the monkeys’ food or some of the females will be given implants to prevent pregnancy. They are not just trying to get money, they also want letterheads which can be used for further frauds.”A police source said that you can always tell if a law enforcer is dealing with organised Nigerian crime because “they have a broken marriage, a drink problem, and the largest card index in the office.” A small number of the criminals also come from Ghana.The NCIS, backed by law enforcers from the G8 group of countries, are to launch new anti-crime initiatives aimed at organised West African offenders. Detective Superintendent Bryan Drew, head of the NCIS’s Strategic and Specialist Intelligence Branch, said: “West African organised crime is now in the big league – we recognise they now pose a significant threat.” Commenting on contributions by the secret services, he said: “The UK intelligence agencies provide support and information that we could not get from anywhere else. Needless to say, the government money never existed.Law enforcers have found it particularly difficult to crack Nigerian crime rings because they have a complicated language which hard to translate and infiltrate. There are big Nigerian crime rings in Poland, Russia and Bangkok.An NCIS spokesman confirmed that Nigerian fraudsters had been found working “from the Government to the private sector.

The Nigerian criminals are good networkers and operate in loose-knit organisations. The “419″ scam is named after the section of the Nigerian penal code dealing with fraud. Thousands of individuals and companies in Britain are randomly written to and asked if they will help transfer millions of pounds of government money out of Nigeria in return for a cut of the cash.All they supposedly have to do is provide bank details. But once hooked they are asked for an “advance” or have money removed from their accounts Millions are stolen this way every year. Building societies and other lenders are using the Internet as a simple and effective form of publicity.

Finding that good mortgage deal is simpler now that most of the large lenders have websites, as do some of the smaller local societies and direct lenders.
Comparing the cost of deals takes a few minutes on line. The websites make this easier with mortgage rate calculators – little programs that let would-be borrowers put in the sum they need and the interest rate and select a mortgage with or without tax relief. A few seconds later the building society’s computer comes up with a monthly figure – more meaningful than the APRs and typical examples in the literature. It lets you try different combinations of deposits and borrowing and to second- guess rate rises.Nationwide’s website has a very comprehensive calculator giving typical costs for life cover as well as monthly prices for its buildings and contents insurance. The criminals, mainly Nigerians, have been discovered working inside government departments, the police and tax offices. The level of crime is so serious that the National Criminal Intelligence Service will tomorrow announce an expansion of its work against the gangs.
Agents and eavesdropping equipment from MI5, MI6 and the listening base at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham are being used to investigate Nigerian crime.

The intelligence agencies MI6 and MI5 are being used to clamp down on fraud and drug-dealing by West African gangs. Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent, investigates a trend costing Britain billions of pounds a year. The insurer pays the difference, so the lender loses nothing.q Under what is called ’subrogation’ the insurer can then reclaim from you what it has paid to the lender to make up the shortfall. Usually the money will be claimed by the lender and repaid to the insurer. If you do not pay up voluntarily you may face legal action.q Contrary to popular belief, you cannot just move out and hand back the keys when you get into mortgage arrears.You can be pursued for what you owe to lenders for 12 years (five in Scotland).*The Council of Mortgage Lenders produces a borrower’s guide to mortgage indemnity policies: 0171-440 2255..

The theory is that it is taking on more risk by lending you a high percentage of the total value.q Watch out: banks and building societies often disguise a MIG payment by calling it a ‘high lending fee’ or ‘an additional security fee.’q You have to pay for the MIG, but it only protects the lender against the risk of default. The lender can only claim after a house has been repossessed and sold for less than the outstanding mortgage. “We look at overall income and expenditure and assess ability to repay, rather than using income multiples,” says Mr Blair.He believes other lenders will eventually be forced to follow Direct Line’s example and scrap MIGs. “We know the Bank of England is very much in favour of the approach we are taking,” he says. There could be good news yet for beleaguered borrowers struggling to buy homes in an overheated market.q Nationwide: 0800 302010 C&G: 0800 272131.