News In Focus
31 July 2006
Threshold lowered for cash seizures
Police and customs officers will now be able to seize smaller sums of money suspected to be the proceeds of crime.
From today the minimum cash seizure threshold has been lowered from £5,000 to £1,000, to tackle those who have tried to transport money in amounts just below the previous threshold in order to evade the Proceeds of Crime 2002 (POCA) provisions.
Since 2003 a total of £9.9 million has been recovered from criminals under the Act's various powers, including more than £4.8 million in the past year alone.
In the current financial year around £2 million of proceeds of crime will be reinvested in the six local authority areas in Scotland which suffer the most serious and violent crime.
The change to the minimum threshold was made by an order laid in the UK Parliament on 4 July.
Deputy Justice Minister Hugh Henry said: "Reducing the threshold so officers can seize cash of stashes of at least £1,000 will allow the police to target local drug dealers and other small-time criminals whose activities destroy lives and blight communities."