NCA recovers property worth £8.1m after proceeds of crime investigation

Property worth up to £8.1 million – including a villa in Tenerife, a Range Rover Evoque and 16 addresses in and around Bath, Somerset – have been recovered by the NCA following a civil recovery and tax investigation.

Four members of the same family agreed to surrender the assets, having conceded that they derived from the proceeds of unlawful conduct.

The vast property portfolio was acquired between 1998 and 2007, and likely through mortgage fraud and the sale of controlled drugs, the NCA said. The properties are believed to have generated rental and commercial income of over £2 million between 2004 and 2009 alone.

According to the NCA, the family had claimed that the sizeable funds used to purchase the properties were the result of “gifts”. This, however, could not be substantiated.

“This investigation has identified unlawfully-held assets worth millions of pounds,” the head of asset denial at the NCA, Andy Lewis, said.

“The Canary Islands holiday home and prestige vehicle represent the obvious trappings of wealth, but equally important is the recovery of numerous commercial and residential properties, which will otherwise have continued to generate substantial revenue that the defendants were not entitled to.”

Mr Lewis noted that it is vital to the UK’s economic wellbeing that assets are held legitimately. 

The NCA’s investigation was supported by Avon and Somerset Police.

Detective Sergeant Gareth Kitchener said, “This is a fantastic result that is testament to the tenacity of the NCA investigators who took this case forward. It demonstrates that civil recovery powers are an extremely powerful tool in the fight against organised crime.”