High and dry: Fraudster’s yacht among £94m of criminal assets seized by the Met

A yacht, a rhino horn and a suitcase stuffed with £200,000 were among a record haul of assets seized from criminals by Scotland Yard last year.

Police say more than £94 million was seized or confiscated under the Misuse of Drugs Act in 2017/18, a 40 per cent rise on the previous year. The amount included £25 million in cash, much of it seized from couriers in London, and £55 million in confiscation orders — a 164 per cent increase on 2016/17.

The yacht was confiscated from a man convicted of a £2.4 million fraud and was sold for £58,000 in January last year. This was used to help pay off a £1.2 million confiscation order.

The rhino horn was seized along with elephant tusks and other material from an illegal trader in endangered animal parts after they were found by search dogs at an address in Watford.

Allawi Abbas, 53, was jailed for 14 years in November. A financial investigation found his illegal dealing had resulted in a criminal benefit of £961,777. His available assets were agreed to be £100,642 but a court ordered that any other funds or property gains he makes for the rest of his life should be removed to make up the difference.

Cash seizures include £240,000 found in a suitcase and a rucksack after a man was stopped in North End Road in Fulham, in February.

Alexander Guevara-Mejia, 40, of Tottenham, pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property and was jailed for two-and-a-half years in March.