Drug Trafficker Told To Pay Back Millions

Hampshire police have managed to get £2.3 million confiscated from a drug trafficker.

Imtiaz Ali has been ordered to pay the money within six months or face another eight years in prison.

On the August 28, 2009 Ali, aged 46, from Kenly, Surrey was found guilty of importing cannabis valued at £357,000, and sentenced to eight years in prison. The drugs were found in crates at a business in Alton.

Hampshire Constabulary's Financial Investigation Unit then worked to secure the confiscation Ali's assets following his conviction. Police financial investigators looked back on his lifestyle for the previous six years and provided evidence that he had benefited from his criminal activities.  

The confiscation hearing at Winchester Crown Court concluded on January 11, 2013, when HH Judge Bowes agreed that Ali had benefited from his criminal activity to the sum of £2,255,689.66. The judge ordered the full £2,255,689.66 to be paid within six months
of the order or serve eight year prison sentence.

The final total was the sum of items such as cash payments to a business account, the obtaining of false VAT repayments, the purchase of eight properties in the UK and Dubai, the balance of a personal bank account and a Franck Muller watch with diamonds.

DI Dave Brown of Hampshire Constabulary's Financial Investigation Unit said: ''This result is the largest confiscation order Hampshire has achieved. It has been the product of the hard work put in by the financial investigators in uncovering all the nice benefits Ali had happily surrounded himself with as a result of his criminal activities. Our message is simple, you may have been found guilty of a crime and received your punishment but that isn’t where we will stop. If we suspect that you have been benefiting from your criminal activity we will come after that too. Crime should never pay.''