Criminals forced to cough up £14 million Local projects benefit as courts seize ill-gotten gains
POLICE have seized more than £14 million in cash, cars, jewellery and houses from criminals in Birmingham and the West Midlands in just five years.
Meanwhile, West Midlands community projects are benefiting from the ill-gotten goods, with the ‘crime donations’ funding groups and schemes.
Latest figures showed just under £2 million was seized from criminals in the last year under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002).
That compares to £3.2 million in 2015/16 and £2.8 million from the year before that, while a total of £3.4 million and £2.9 million were recovered in 2013/14 and 2012/13 respectively.
The huge seizure figures were welcomed by West Midlands Crime Commissioner David Jamieson. He said: “West Midlands Police uses the proceeds of crime act to send a strong message that crime doesn’t pay.
“No-one is above the law and West Midlands Police will pursue those who seek to profit out of criminality. There is a great symmetry to see ill-gotten gains seized and that money then used for good causes.”
Over the years the law-breakers have faced confiscation orders on everything from cash and property to designer watches and sports cars – including a £200,000 Lamborghini.
Many of the smaller luxury goods seized by West Midlands Police go under auction at Aston’s Auctions, with sale planned for August.
Previous items sold off included jewellery, Rolex, Brietling and Cartier watches, cameras, clothing, bikes champagne and even cigars.
Properties are also targeted for confiscation orders.
Last year it was revealed how detectives planned to seize and sell the family home of a jailed Birmingham tax fraudster, after he was sentenced to a further ten years for refusing to pay back £2.2 million.
Mohammed Suleman Khan, 44, was originally imprisoned for four years in April 2014 after defrauding the taxman of £450,000.
The fraudster – known as The General in criminal circles – was due for release last April, but will now face more years behind bars after defaulting on the Proceeds of Crime (POC) order. another
The original tax scam was exposed after police raided his Moseley home and found plans for his own ‘ Buckingham Palace’ in Pakistan.
Roger Quintyne, 53, from Wolverhampton, was jailed for 12 months after being convicted of money laundering in 2009.
But investigations showed that while Quintyne was declaring a modest income, he in fact owned properties in the UK, a house in Barbados, and had access to large sums of money. He was later ordered to pay £500,000 under POCA.
In March, a rucksack found in a hotel room stuffed with £76,000 in used notes was seized by West Midlands Police under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Officers found the stash − largely in Scottish bank notes − in an east Birmingham hotel room after alert staff raised child exploitation fears when two men and a young woman into a double room.
A 46-year-old man from Kilmarnock − and with links to Coventry and Dudley − was arrested on suspicion of money laundering but later released without charge.
However, officers seized the suspected drug profits and insisted the man provide evidence on he’d come about the money legitimately before it was returned.
In January it was also revealed how the family of a major drug dealer convicted of being part of a £180 million money laundering conspiracy faced having to hand over four houses.
The High Court was told that relatives of Alam Zeb Khan must give up a portfolio of properties in Birmingham and Northern Ireland funded by his criminal enterprises.
Khan, of Birmingham, served sentences starting in 2000 for heroin smuggling, in 2012 for a cocaine supply plot and in 2013 for money laundering.
However, following his latest conviction, the National Crime Agency went after his family’s assets. Yet not every case is a success. Earlier this month a Burger Bar Boys gang member jailed for shooting Johnson Crew rivals was ordered to hand over just £182 he earned from dealing Class A drugs – despite making nearly £30,000. Reial Phillips was jailed for 27 years in October by a judge who said he had “gloried in the shootings” by posting videos online to “ramp up tension between the two gangs”. checked