Greater Manchester Police recover more than £10m in ill-gotten gains in the space of 12 months

Following successful forfeitures, GMP’s Economic Crime Unit have successfully recuperated £11,242,753.

The unit is made up of a number of specialist teams who all target different areas of criminal finances to ensure that all their funds are removed.

This comes after a record-breaking year for the unit as last tax year they recovered £13.7m and is in a good position to continue this success and break even more records.

The money comprises:

Over £5m from the Account Freezing Order Team (AFO), by conducting civil investigations, the team freeze suspected criminal funds in bank accounts and these are then forfeited at court.

£3.5m from the Asset Detention and Recovery Unit (ADRU), who deal with the seizures of cash and listed assets by conducting civil investigations following seizures of cash and assets by other teams in the Economic Crime Unit – with a view to forfeiting seized cash and assets which is then invested back into the community.

Over £2m from the Confiscation and Restrain Unit – this is made up of financial investigators who restrain assets such as houses and then seek confiscation orders after criminal conviction.

The Money Laundering Team conduct proactive and reactive investigations– following arrests the money makes its way to the ADRU and AFO teams to secure the illicit finances through convictions in court.

Operation Falcon is GMP's specific operation in response to cash couriers.

These are seizures conducted by the Money Laundering Team and these are ultimately forfeited to contribute towards the £10 million total.

Almost half of the money forfeited from criminals and suspected offenders, returns to GMP through the Asset Recovery Incentive Scheme (ARIS); a Home Office led programme, this money is re-invested into community programmes and charities across Greater Manchester, as well as funding policing programmes and operations to continue fighting crime.

Non-profits which benefit a large number of people can apply for a maximum of £20,000 to fund 12 months’ activities.

The activities must support GMP’s objectives to fight, prevent and reduce crime; keep people safe; and care for victims.

More information about ARIS funding applications can be found here

Det Supt Joe Harrop who leads the Economic Crime Unit, said: “As a team we continue to create more innovative ways to recover criminal assets.

“GMP is one of the leading forces in the UK for seizing and recovering criminal funding.

“Just under half of the money is returned to GMP through the Home Office ARIS funding scheme which is used to fund local initiatives and charities where the money recovered is used to benefit communities across Greater Manchester.

“We have a number of highly skilled police officers and staff across a number of teams that make up the Economic Crime Unit, who collectively use a variety of options available under the Proceeds of Crime Act, including cash seizure powers, listed asset powers such as seizing high value jewellery, watches and artwork and bank account freezing orders.

“However well-hidden the cash and assets are – we will ensure that the money is not used to further serious and violent criminality.

“Let this be a stark reminder to anyone who believes that they can use illegitimate finances to fund their criminality – we will find it, forfeit it and reinvest that money back into the communities across Greater Manchester.

“Stripping criminals of their finances has a substantial impact on crime – I hope this figure serves as a reminder that tackling economic crime is a relentless task – our teams will continue to work diligently behind the scenes to ensure that those involved in criminal behaviour are brought to justice and pay the price for their crimes.”

“If you see, or suspect something is wrong, tell us, and we can sort it."