Vehicles, houses, cryptocurrency and designer goods were among the items seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) last year as the amount of money returned to the exchequer rose by 30 per cent.
The bureau, which has a remit to seize cash and property it believes are the proceeds of crime, has been seizing increasingly large amounts of luxury goods from suspected criminals in recent years.
Its annual report shows that the Cab returned more than €5.5 million to the exchequer last year, comprised of €4.4 million in revenue settlements, €1.14 million in proceeds of crime and €364,000 in social welfare recoveries. In total the bureau said it “denied and deprived criminals of their ill-gotten gains” to the sum of €10.9 million, which included large properties, Mercedes Benz cars and Rolex watches.
In one case more than €5.4 million was returned by the bureau to six injured parties who were victims of cryptocurrency theft involving sim swapping fraud, which involves the transfer of a mobile phone number from one sim card to another. The victim’s phone number is transferred on to a sim card under the control of the perpetrators, who then gain access to the victim’s accounts linked to the phone number. The investigation dated to 2019 and was carried out in conjunction with federal agents from US Homeland Security.
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Separately, the bureau targeted an international organised crime gang suspected of laundering the proceeds of mandate fraud through a used car outlet. It led to the seizure of 84 vehicles, a trailer and €153,000 held in a business bank account. The investigation centred on a UK-based gang where stolen funds laundered through various bank accounts in the UK was used to purchase vehicles in the UK, which in turn were being sold in the used car outlet in Co Tipperary.
Cab received 321 “good citizen reports” during the year, one of which, made via a telephone call, resulted in the seizure of a high value vehicle worth in the region of €80,000.
The bureau has orders over 63 properties worth about €15 million. It raised €653,000 with the sale of four properties last year.
In an online auction held by the Cab in December, 55 designer items including handbags, watches, footwear and clothing went on sale. Fifty items were sold for a total of €45,529. The remaining items will be re‐entered into an auction.
The bureau seized a number of items from a drug dealer including €29,110 in cash, a Kawasaki KX 250 motorcycle, a Honda CRF 250 motorcycle, and a Westwood trailer for transporting motorcycles. The same individual was also stripped of designer goods valued in excess of €30,000, which included a Gucci Ophidia wallet, Gucci belts, trainers, a baseball cap, jackets, Louis Vuitton sunglasses, wallets, a backpack and Valentino trainers.
