New pups for police after record breaking year | News

More than £47 million kilos was seized

Author: Louise EastonPublished 1 hour in the past

After seizing greater than £47 million from criminals within the final monetary year, the Met Police is investing in some new puppies.

The canine will likely be skilled to assist officers deal with violent crime and uncover extra laundered or hidden money.

The power described the final year as their most profitable but by way of prison proceed seizures. It was up by over 150%, which in actual figures was £28 million.

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Wright, from the Central Specialist Crime Command (Economic Crime), mentioned:

“Cutting off the money circulate that’s generated by criminality and ill-gotten positive aspects not solely helps to deal with violent crime, the Met’s primary precedence, but it surely additionally helps to fund further policing sources.

“Our funding in coaching these new puppies as money seizure canine will assist us to seek out money that’s hidden in secret compartments, often called hides, in autos and houses – making our work faster and simpler. In flip I hope it means the Met’s financial crime groups will likely be much more productive and construct on the perfect year for money seizures we now have had shortly.”

The 2020/21 monetary year was a record year for the Met’s Proactive Money Laundering Teams, who recovered £14.4m and made 116 arrests. They additionally discovered and seized 67kgs of medicine and two machine weapons with over 300 rounds of ammunition.

In the identical monetary year the Met as an entire additionally elevated its complete worth of money seizures by over 150% (£18.4m in 19/20 as much as £47.2m in FY 20/21 – a rise of £28m). Officers carried out a complete of 793 money seizures in FY 20/21, a rise on the 560 seizures made in FY 19/20.

Cash seizures are the literal seizures of notes and cash.

The variety of Account Freezing Orders executed by Met officers has additionally elevated by 100% (184 in FY 19/20 as much as 368 in FY 20/21). In monetary worth it has elevated from £18.6m to £27.3m respectively. This is the place officers freeze the funds in a suspicious account forward of additional motion.

Whilst the variety of Forfeitures has decreased (452 in FY19/20 to 322 in FY20/21) the worth of cash forfeited from criminals to the Met has elevated by 75.2% (£11.07m as much as £19.39m).

Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Gallagher, who leads the Central Specialist Crime Command added:

“The Economic Crime Command performs a vital half in supporting the Met’s primary precedence – tackling violence on the streets of London and I’m unbelievably happy with the entire laborious work that my officers have put in over the past year. We’re persevering with our focus notably on how we’re depriving criminals of the income they make from criminality.

“There is an intrinsic hyperlink between cash and violence. It is the motivator for most crime sorts internationally, however specifically the drug commerce and organised crime. By disrupting the circulate of cash, we’re disrupting core enterprise for many criminals throughout the capital. Behind each pound made by a prison is a path of distress in our communities.

“We have been dedicated to decreasing road violence throughout London, and the Commissioner has been clear that it is a precedence for the complete Metropolitan Police Service. We are tackling it from all angles and making London a hostile and troublesome place for these intent on committing acts of violence to function.”

Recommended For You