MOUNTIES GET HANDS ON $227M OF BAD GUYS' STUFF

OTTAWA -- The Mounties have seized cash, cars, boats, homes, jewelry
and livestock worth more than $227 million that was the bounty of
big-time drug traffickers, prostitution rings and illicit arms dealers.

Records obtained through Access to Information list major RCMP files
on proceeds of crime cases across Canada, showing hundreds of hauls
since new laws were installed a decade ago. So far, only $65 million
of that has been ordered forfeited by the courts, with the remainder
going to legal fees or the accused party's living expenses or whittled
down through plea bargains.

Many of the cases are still before the courts.

While the RCMP seizures represent only a fraction of the estimated
billions made each year in Canada's illicit drug trade, Staff-Sgt.
Joel Godard of the proceeds of crime section said the key aim is to
shut down the big operators.

"A lot of these investigations are quite complex and take a long
period of time, and because of that there are fewer investigations
conducted. But the goal is to target the upper echelon of organized
crime," he said.

Some of the probes -- given names like Project Rags to Riches or
Project Oilslick -- are carried out in parallel with a major drug or
other investigation, while others begin after charges are laid.

Investigations are complicated because clever criminals cover their
tracks by registering assets in the name of third parties or using
offshore accounts, laundering illicit cash by buying property, jewels
or expensive vehicles.

Cons have been nabbed putting money into everything under the sun to
hide their wealth -- from a ski hill to cattle. But Godard said
increasingly sophisticated methods of organized criminals are matched
by sophisticated law enforcement to help remove the "incentive" of
crime.

"We seize vehicles, houses, condominiums, boats, planes, furniture --
anything we can prove was purchased through the criminal activity," he
said.

Ill-got property is turned over to the federal Public Works
department, where the goods are guarded until legal proceedings are
done. Courts can declare some or all the property "forfeited," or
order it returned to the owner if there's no conviction. Most
forfeited assets are sold through public auction.