Kent and Essex Crack Down on Crime Cash
Specialist financial sleuths from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate are smashing organised crime by using the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) to strip criminals of their ill-gotten gains. Drug dealers, fraudsters, and thieves are being chased relentlessly to stop them profiting from crime.
Millions Recovered in Cash and Assets
In the last 12 months alone, their hard work secured 193 successful outcomes through confiscation and forfeiture orders. A confiscation order forces offenders to pay back their crime profits within three months. A forfeiture order snatches cash and property obtained illegally.
In 2021, more than £4.5 million was confiscated and another £3.3 million seized via forfeiture. Over the past five years, a whopping £20 million has been taken from criminals using POCA.
Financial Crime Unit Shuts Down Organised Crime
Detective Chief Inspector Rob Harper said: “Depriving criminals of £8 million in a year shows the sterling work of our Financial Investigation Unit. Year after year, they’re putting the brakes on organised crime in Kent.”
“It would be wrong for criminals to serve prison time and walk free with their illegal cash. The Proceeds of Crime Act is crucial to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Even if we can’t prove a crime directly, we can still take away assets a court agrees were acquired unlawfully.”
“We will never ease off. We’re using every tool to hit those harming our communities.”
Biggest Haul: £3.5 Million Snatched from VAT Fraudster
The largest sting in 2021 took £3,491,433 from a former Canterbury man caught in a complex VAT scam. Using 12 fake identities and sham firms, he falsely claimed tax repayments before landing a five-year jail term in 2018.
While behind bars, financial experts painstakingly built the case and won the confiscation order after a six-day court hearing in June 2021.
Other Major Busts
- A West Yorkshire money launderer lost £856,445 in forfeiture plus £90,150 confiscation. The cash was found in a car at the Channel Tunnel. He’s two years into a six-year sentence.
- Two men jailed for laundering £745,087 from a drug bust in Kensington. One supplied cocaine across Kent. Together they face over seven years in prison.
- £. He hasn’t been charged with drugs but is suspected to have fled to Albania.
- £180,670 forfeited after a Holborn man couldn’t explain money found in his car at the Channel Tunnel. No criminal charges but court agreed it was illicit.
- Broadstairs cocaine supplier ordered to hand over £86,648 alongside a six-year prison term.
- Basildon man involved in stealing cash machines across Kent and Essex lost £45,655. He’s serving five years and nine months behind bars.
More on the Proceeds of Crime Act
This pivotal law targets criminals’ assets, ensuring they never enjoy the spoils of their illegal activities. Kent and Essex’s top financial crime fighters are showing no mercy to offenders trying to cheat the system.
