Police seize £1m found in back of black cab as part of £73m haul of crime proceeds

Seized: A suitcase containing £500,000 police took from criminals last year
Justin Davenport24 February 2017
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Scotland Yard seized a record £73 million from convicted criminals last year, including nearly £1m in cash found in a black cab.

The Met said the total was the largest confiscated in London in a single year since the Proceeds of Crime Act came into force in 2002.

The largest single cash seizure came when officers stopped a taxi in east London and found a black holdall in the passenger section containing £943,000 in notes.

Detectives believe the cash was being moved around London by a criminal network.

In another case police issued a £6,328,119 confiscation order after two men were convicted for a money laundering operation linked to brothels across London.

This red Ferrari was also among assets seized by police

The former owners of the East Village nightclub in Shoreditch, Ashley Sheldrick and Terrence Hart, were jailed for 18 years in total in 2015 for conspiring to run brothels and launder the profits.

Police believe the enterprise raked in more than £12 in three years using chip and pin machines in brothels.

The Met today released images of cash seized by police and assets confiscated from criminals, including a red Ferrari.

Outgoing Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, whose last day in office is next week, said: “The Met is here to reduce crime and keep people safe. It’s satisfying to see criminals pay back for the damage they cause communities through the assets we’ve recovered.

“The message is loud and clear, crime does not pay and criminals who think it does will have to deal with the full force of the Met.”

Scotland Yard seized a record £73 million from convicted criminals last year

However, it is unclear if the record £73 million total includes confiscation orders issued against convicted criminals where the sums have yet to be recovered.

Funds confiscated by the Met are paid to the Home Office and the force then receives a percentage to re-invest in crimefighting operations.

Last year the Met received a total of £8.89m back from the Home Office.

Since Sir Bernard was appointed Commissioner in September 2011, the Met has seized or confiscated £317.14m through the Proceeds of Crime Act.

In recent years detectives say they are increasingly targeting couriers moving big sums of cash round London for criminal Mr Bigs.

In 2014 the force seized £27m from criminal couriers, often people with no criminal convictions who are hired to carry cash around the city.

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