SQUADS TO SEIZE GANGSTERS' ASSETS

New Powers to Confiscate Homes, Cars and Cash

New asset-stripping investigators are to clamp down on gangsters by
seizing houses, cars, businesses, cash and other goods they suspect
have been paid for by crime.

Five 30-strong squads, based throughout England and Wales, will target
local "Mr Bigs", living lives of luxury on the profits of organised
crime, such as money-laundering, drug dealing, people trafficking and
car theft.

Roger Aldridge, deputy chief constable of Warwickshire police and a
spokesman on asset confiscation for the Association of Chief Police
Officers, said: "Getting convictions of criminal bosses is good but
not good enough if they can delegate or continue to run operations
themselves from inside jail.

"Now we can take homes, cars, the lot. There is plenty of evidence to
suggest a confiscation order is as effective as a prison sentence in
stopping these criminals leech off local communities. We have to show
people that crime doesn't pay."

The police-led regional asset recovery teams (Rarts) will use enhanced
powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act introduced in January 2003 to
freeze suspects' assets before criminal proceedings have begun, with a
view to permanently confiscating them on conviction. They will also
investigate assets held in the names of criminals' relatives and friends.

The Act tightens the definition of money-laundering, making it more
difficult for crime bosses to distance themselves from baseline
operations, and courts now need only a civil burden of proof - on the
balance of probability - that assets were illegally obtained in order
to "restrain" or freeze them at an early stage.

Police and Customs can now also seize cash of UKP5,000 or more on the
spot. Previously, the lower limit was UKP10,000, but criminals were
getting round this by dividing up the money.

A percentage of forfeited assets will be ploughed back into funding
the Rarts, which will be made up of police and Customs officers, the
Inland Revenue, Crown Prosecution Service, National Criminal
Intelligence Service and the Assets Recovery Agency, the civil body
set up a year ago to pursue criminals' cash.

The pilot West Midlands Rart, operating for less than a year, has
already taken on 37 cases and frozen assets worth UKP13m, including 14
homes in England (some worth UKP1m-UKP2m), five commercial premises, two
flats in Marbella and 10 luxury cars (among them several
top-of-the-range Mercedes, a Porsche and a Bentley).

Mr Aldridge admitted that none of these cases had yet gone through the
courts and that they could face stiff legal challenges. But he was
confident that the Proceeds of Crime Act, combined with the
multi-agency approach, would strengthen the police's hand.

Yesterday, Acpo and the Home Office formally announced four more
teams, each headed by a detective chief inspector, based in northwest
England, the north-east, Wales and London.

Since it began work six weeks ago, the London Rart has seized UKP766,000
in cash and succeeded in getting the courts to freeze a further UKP1m in
assets.

"By targeting dirty cash, we are cutting off the financial lifeblood
that keeps criminal organisations operating," said DCI Tristram Hicks,
head of London Rart.

The five teams will complement the Serious Organised Crime Agency,
announced recently and aimed at tackling similar problems at national
and international level.

Over the next three years, the teams will receive total funding of
UKP36m, already confiscated from convicted criminals.

Yesterday, Home Office minister Caroline Flint revealed an incentive
scheme that will give police a third of all recovered assets above
UKP40m next year, increasing to 50% in 2005-06.

"One year on, the tough powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act are
hitting criminals where it hurts - in their pockets," she said.

"Why should criminals enjoy champagne lifestyles paid for with the
money made at the expense of victims of crime?"

Mansions, Shops and Automobiles

. Since the Proceeds of Crime Act came into effect January 2003,
police and Customs have seized UKP55m and confiscated UKP37.6m

. Assets Recovery Agency has frozen UKP12.7m in civil cases and UKP6.2m
under restraint orders in criminal courts

. Since start-up last April, West Midlands regional asset recovery
team has identified UKP39m of criminal assets and restrained UKP13m-worth

. This includes 14 homes and five commercial premises in the West
Midlands, two Marbella apartments and 10 luxury cars

. The West Midlands properties range from a UKP2m seven-bedroom mansion
with games room and heated indoor pool to a UKP250,000 fish and chip
shop and a UKP100,000 three-bedroom semi

. The cars include a Porsche 911 Turbo worth UKP89,000, a UKP85,000
Bentley Arnage and a Mercedes CL55 valued at UKP50,000

. In the past six weeks, the London Rart has seized UKP766,000 in cash
and frozen UKP1m suspected criminal assets. In the past year, the
Scotland Yard-led Operation Payback seized UKP8m in 149 seizures and
secured confiscation orders for UKP6.5m