Teenagers are being radicalised to become cyber criminals, sex offenders and terrorists by the same algorithms in “toxic online spaces”, the head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned.

Director General Graeme Biggar said technology is no longer “merely enabling”, but “driving” serious and organised crime.

In a speech at the NCA’s headquarters in east London, he said “something fundamental has changed”, adding that how authorities protect the public is at a “turning point”.

“Technology is no longer simply a tool that criminals use. It is reshaping crime itself: accelerating it, globalising it, and making it more harmful,” he said.

“Teenagers are being radicalised – to become cyber criminals, sexual offenders or terrorists – within the same toxic online spaces, by the same algorithms.”

In its annual National Strategic Assessment, the NCA found the threat from serious and organised crime increased last year, with drugs remaining the biggest driver in the UK.

Mr Biggar said synthetic opioids pose the biggest risk, with nitazenes linked to an “extraordinary” 1,000 deaths since first appearing at scale in the country in June 2023.

Criminals are getting “more inventive” to smuggle drugs, altering cocaine at a molecular level to bond with another material such as charcoal, glue or plastic before being extracted at the other end.

“The cocaine is not hidden inside a box of bananas. It is the box of bananas,” Mr Biggar said.

The drug has been known to have been painted on to broom handles or mixed into bottles of red wine, but the methods have become more sophisticated.

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He said the Iran war is likely to increase the demand for migrants to reach the UK, with organised immigration crime the NCA’s “main effort”.

But the pace of change has been “most acute” in online crime, he said, highlighting a series of high-profile recent hacks, including Transport for London, Marks and Spencer and Jaguar Land Rover.

Most still originate abroad, but the NCA have seen the emergence of UK-based attackers, Mr Biggar said.

The report found the threat to children online remains “deeply serious”, with 2,000 child sexual abuse referrals a week received from tech companies.

They are becoming “more disturbing”, with artificial intelligence adding “complexity and volume, while algorithms “accelerate and normalise harm,” said Mr Biggar.

“Algorithms are monetising rage,” he said.

“Tech companies need to face up to their responsibilities in a way they simply have not done yet.”