Since the Proceeds of Crime Act came in, the Metropolitan Police has seized a total of more than £20m of illegally earned cash and assets from criminals.
The Proceeds of Crime Act was introduced two years ago and since then the Met has made 370 seizures.
The total amount of cash seized by the Met Police amounts to £19,190,496 with the London Region Asset Recovery Team additionally seizing £1,310,206. So far the national total of cash seized from criminals by the Met amounts to 44 per cent of the national total.
What they say
Detective Chief Inspector Tristram Hicks, Head of London Region Asset Recovery Team for the Met, said: "The cash seizure and money laundering provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act have changed the way police can deal with criminals. Taking the money takes the point out of crime. Criminals are now also finding that their friends and family are being arrested and convicted for money laundering."
Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, Head of the Met’s Specialist Crime Directorate, added: "The Proceeds of Crime Act is an effective way for police to deal with local criminals who have become dysfunctional role models within their own communities. Taking their cash takes away their power and discourages people to follow their example into a life of crime."
Some examples of the work undertaken by the Met Police in the past two years have been:
Working with the London Borough of Waltham Forest, the Regional Asset Recovery Team assisted in the investigation of a man selling counterfeit DVDs. As a result of a joint raid of his premises, a safety deposit box key was found. In the box was £43,000 in cash, capsules for smuggling class A drugs, false documentation and a quantity of jewellery. The cash was forfeited under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
In September 2004, officers from the Met Police seized a bankers draft for £114,000 from a known convicted drug trafficker when he closed an account with a major assurance company. The draft was believed to be the proceeds of a drug importation from 12 years previously.
During March 2004, officers from Belgravia police station arrested a suspected burglar who was found to have £8,500 in cash at his home address. The money was seized.
A burglar wanted by the Met Police in Kensington, was captured with £50,000 in cash after financial investigators had followed a trail of suspicious money.
