Court allows police to confiscate £15k seized from Wigan drug dealing suspect

Representations were made to Wigan magistrates that the money – said to have been taken during the stop and search of a 23-year-old in Templeton Road, Platt Bridge – could be ill-gotten gains.

The hearing was told that the man, whom Wigan Today is not naming because no charges have at this time been brought against him since his arrest, was frisked by officers in the street at 4am on December 14 and both the large quantity of cash and a controlled drug were found on his person.

The application was made under the Proceeds of Crime Act which is more commonly evoked to seize the assets of convicted criminals.

But in this instance it was used when a suspect was on bail while investigations into possible criminal activity continue.

The bench gave the police permission to detain the money for a further six months because the applicant had “reasonable grounds for suspecting that it was recoverable property which had been obtained through unlawful conduct and was intended for unlawful conduct.”