$435.9 million seized from crims in 5 years

Half of the hundreds of millions of dollars seized from criminals in the past five years stems from methamphetamine, a senior detective says.

Every year, criminals are stripped of hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury cars, motorbikes, cash, property and even handbags as police ramp up their use of the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.

The act first came into play in 2009 and in the last five years – since July 2014 – $435.9 million worth of assets has been seized by police, data obtained under the Official Information Act shows.

Detective Inspector Craig Hamilton, the financial crime group’s national manager, said the act had been working over the last 10 years since it came into force.

By taking these assets off criminals, the money can’t be reinvested into crime, Hamilton said. ‘‘About half of all restrained property stems from methamphetamine.’’

Hamilton said there was a focus on gangs where they found evidence of crime and proceeds.

He said the act was a way to make communities safer, as taking money off drug dealers meant there were fewer drugs in the community. ‘‘It’s not about taking money off individuals ... but all about improving the safety of our communities.’’

In the last five years, $299.7m was seized by police from criminals across Auckland. Since July 2014, 533 vehicles and motorbikes have been seized under the act totalling $13.7m.

Once the assets have been restrained, they are transferred to the Official Assignee – the Ministry Of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Comancheros cache

In April, $3.7m worth of assets were seized by police from members of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club in Auckland.

A Rolls-Royce, three Land Rovers, five Harley-Davidson motorbikes and two residential properties were among the assets seized by detectives during raids in April.

A $13,000 Louis Vuitton bag and a gold chain worth more than $9000 were also among the items seized by police.

Six people were initially arrested in the raids that took place across Auckland.

As well as gang associates, police also charged a lawyer and an accountant, alleging they had helped the gang.

Earlier this year, Stuff reported the police commissioner wanted to sell the luxury cars and motorbikes belonging to members of the gang.

Police used the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act to freeze assets belonging to the men. These were now subject to court orders.

Under the legislation, if the police commissioner can prove the vehicles were bought with money from selling methamphetamine, the assets can be sold and the Government will keep the money.

In 2015, police froze $40m worth of assets from Chinese businessman William Yan while an investigation into alleged money laundering was undertaken.

Yan’s assets include cash, fine wine, luxury cars, jewellery and an 18.8 per cent share in Kim Dotcom’s company Mega Upload.