Greater Manchester: Criminal cash seized in Bury and Oldham

In total this has come to more than £2million in criminal cash they have recovered since April this year.

This includes £16,000 found when officers raided a cannabis farm in Prestwich, just over £53,000 seized when they stopped a van in Bury in May this year and £51,000 found in a shoebox inside a car stopped in Oldham last July.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Langley, of GMP’s Asset Detention and Recovery Unit, said: “The team continue to work hard to strip finances from criminals so they cannot keep hold of their assets to enjoy when they come out of prison, if the money has been gained through illicit means we will take this away and use it for better causes in Greater Manchester.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Langley (Image: GMP)

“With every forfeiture of criminal cash, we are tightening our grip on the assets possessed by those involved in any form of criminality.”

In total, police say £2,136,921.46 in cash and listed assets as recovered from 200 successful forfeiture orders.

This breaks down to £2,046,126.46 in cash and £90,795.00 in listed assets.

Officers from GMP's Asset Detention and Recovery Unit in the Economic Crime Unit (Image: GMP)

When seizing the cash in Prestwich, police found more than 60 cannabis plants growing with an estimated street value of £15,000.

In the case of the van stopped in Bury in May, officers found a large bag containing cash, four mobile phones and thousands of pounds worth of cannabis packaged ready for sale hidden inside.

The cash seized in Oldham (Image: GMP)

The shoebox in Oldham containing £51,000 was found after what started as a routine stop by traffic officers.

Detective Superintendent Joseph Harrop, of our Economic Crime Unit, said: “With this latest forfeiture of over £2million, it demonstrates how we will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that money is being given back into the community to be used to tackle and prevent crime.

“Not only is this a staggering sum of money, it has also been recently recovered which shows how quickly we are able to take action on suspected criminality, take away the assets of those involved, and take them into our control so that they can be re-invested in worthy causes.”