"The government should be getting its own house in order first, " agrees Frank Cilluffo, deputy director of the Global Organized Crime Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

CNN: Net crime does pay for cops

Bob Lauder, deputy director in Scotland of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, said any new information would be of great use to its 200 officers posted in 40 countries throughout Europe and Asia.

BBC: New techniques help trace heroin

"Paralysing someone as punishment for a crime would be torture, " said Ann Harrison, Middle East and North Africa deputy director at Amnesty.

BBC: Amnesty 'outrage' at Saudi paralysis sentence