22/09/2004

Four detained after Customs swoops in Scotland

Four people have been detained following a number of swoops by Customs officers in Scotland today.

Over 50 customs' officers supported by police searched a number of houses and business premises in Dundee, Glasgow, and Ayrshire in connection with alleged money laundering and VAT fraud.

The four are being interviewed in connection with the investigation and reports will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal, Customs said.

According to a Customs spokesperson, "substantial assets in cash and property have now been restrained".

Customs Head of Investigation Scotland Gordon Miller said: "We are committed to using the full range of available powers to investigate criminal attacks on the VAT system and money laundering and to take positive actions to recover the proceeds of crime. Money is the lifeblood of serious and organised crime, and we are determined to ensure that crime does not pay."

The Proceeds of Crime Act gave Customs extended powers to "seize money suspected of being either the proceeds of any crime or for use in any crime, not just drugs, inland as well as at the borders".

Money can be seized as evidence, and at some time in the future may be liable to forfeiture if proven, to a civil standard, that it is likely to have been the proceeds of crime.

(gmcg/mb)

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