PSNI appoints 60 financial specialists

More than 60 specialist financial investigators will be appointed to fight organised gangsters across Northern Ireland.

More than 60 specialist financial investigators will be appointed to fight organised gangsters across Northern Ireland.

The specialists can apply to the High Court to stop suspects selling property, land, cars or houses in a bid to bring high-rolling criminal lifestyles to an end.

Funds seized from fraudsters will be used to fund the initiative.

Detective Superintendent Roy McComb, who heads the  PSNI's Economic Crime Bureau,  said: "With a financial investigator now embedded in every policing district organised criminals are being hunted right across the province.

READ MORE

"I am very confident that the work of the financial investigation unit will reap great rewards and we will be able to access criminals' money to use it against other criminals."

Last year the PSNI netted £580,000 from cash seizures and nearly £232,000 has been seized in 33 operations since April 2007.

During the 2006/07 period, police obtained 14 confiscation orders worth £1.5 million.

Recently the PSNI Financial Investigation Unit obtained 27 restraint orders preventing suspects from selling off £11 million worth of the gains of crime.

The Unit also invested in a number of specially trained cash dogs that sniff out large amounts of illegal money. The dogs were bought with confiscated cash.