THE NORTHERN Ireland law enforcement agencies plan to recover at least £14 million (€17.65 million) in criminal assets over the next two years, according to the North's security minister Paul Goggins.
Mr Goggins, in his position as chairman of the Organised Crime Task Force, said £7.5 million of the £14 million would be invested in crime fighting initiatives.
Launching the Northern Ireland Assets Recovery Action Plan for 2008 to 2010 he said the PSNI, revenue officers and other law enforcement bodies should be in a position to recover £6.2 million in the coming year and not less than £7.8 million the following year.
"I have set challenging but realistic targets of what can be recovered over the next two years and I believe that with the expertise we have in Northern Ireland, we can exceed that £14 million figure," he said yesterday.
"We will then give the law enforcement agencies half of that money so that they can step up their fight against organised criminals and develop innovative crime fighting schemes across Northern Ireland," he added.
Mr Goggins said that court orders against assets valued £25.94 million were obtained last year, almost 12 times the target of £2.2 million. However he conceded that the target to disrupt £35 million in assets during the year 2007/2008 was not met - the figure was £23.25 million.
"Recovering assets can take time and I am confident that the number of cases in the pipeline for completion will see us meet our targets in the next two years," said Mr Goggins.