Episode 1 Ill Gotten Gains

When the cell door slams shut on a criminal, you might think

they've got their just desserts, but the law doesn't stop there.

Criminals are now having their most prized possessions hunted down,

seized, and sold at auction to the highest bidder.

Welcome to Ill Gotten Gains.

In this programme, we follow police in Wales

on an operation with a difference.

The officers here are not just looking

to give a criminal jail time.

They're about to strip him of his cash and assets.

And this family yacht will be auctioned

after it was intercepted sailing through British waters.

It was being used by a criminal gang

who were trying to pull off a massive international crime.

But some people do very well out of the criminals.

We meet the charities who receive the cash seized from crooks

in their area, and see how they spend it.

For me to be able to provide a grant from the proceeds of crime

to put into this project is fantastic.

Across Britain, every day, teams of specialist police officers

are using a powerful law called the Proceeds of Crime Act

to take cash and property

from people who make money in illegal ways.

They might be fraudsters, drug dealers or benefit cheats

but any cash they made through breaking the law

will be taken away by police.

They seized over £150 million from crooks in a year,

and it's not just cash that gets seized.

This building may not look like Sotheby's, but millions of pounds

worth of goods owned by crooks gets sold off here every year.

This is a location miles away from London, where they hold

barely advertised auctions called Proceeds of Crime Sales.

They're open to the public

and any ill gotten gains are seized by the police

and sold to the highest bidder.

Up and down the country,

there are secret locations like this one

where the police store assets seized by criminals

using the powerful Proceeds of Crime law,

designed to hit crooks where it hurts the hardest -

in their pockets.

The Proceeds of Crime Act brought in legislation

which allows you to prosecute offenders in the first place,

but it also, in relation to assets seized,

allows you to take the benefit that the criminal's made

and hit them in the pocket.

Once you've been a successful criminal,

for want of a better word,

you could lose the asset you've acquired

and all that work could have been for nothing.

But it also has the advantage of it takes the money and the cash

out of circulation and, in many cases,

that cash and that money would be reinvested in criminal activity.

So it has a double effect.

One, negating the symbolism of a successful criminal, but also

removing the funds from being repatriated into criminal activity.

For police to put their Proceeds of Crime powers into action,

there first needs to be an arrest, and we were there when it happened.

In South Wales,

a team of specialist officers are preparing to raid a nearby address.

They're after a suspected drug dealer who they believe has been

living the high life, all funded by making money through drugs.

Detective Inspector Julian Ball is giving his team

a last minute update on what to look for.

This has been a covert investigation for the past six months,

which has focussed on drug dealing activities of individuals

based in South Wales and Kent.

This morning, we're looking to execute a number of warrants,

both here in South Wales and down in Kent.

As you're aware, we have a number of officers down there.

We're looking to execute two warrants within our region

and also three within Kent.

We're looking to go through the doors approximately 6.30,

so in about 20 minutes.

And Julian's officers will be looking for any evidence

of extravagant wealth.

It is an added bonus when we search the premises

to identify hidden assets or property, jewellery, cash,

so we have the appropriate staff there

to deal with any unexpected find that may occur today.

Today, Welsh police are looking to stop a man

they think controls a large chunk of the drug trade.

Then, the financial investigators

can start closing in on the money trail.

The investigation has revealed

that he's probably going to be the organiser down this way.

Many of the officers involved today are financial specialists.

They catch crooks, then strip them of their assets and cash.

We can't show the investigators' faces,

but they've got the target in their sights ahead.

-This is it. See in the corner? The blue house?

-Yes.

When we go to a suspect's house and we go through the door,

we're looking for documents, paperwork,

anything that will link them to assets.

Could be one word or one phone number

or one code written on a piece of paper.

Anything that shows a trail for where the money's gone.

They are just outside an address

where they believe the suspect lives.

-Ready?

-Yup.

Once inside, they will look for evidence of drug dealing.

But they will also be looking very closely for any signs of wealth.

The team plan to make a very fast entry into the house,

so there is no chance to destroy evidence.

CHAINSAW

Now for a thorough search.

The suspect doesn't appear to be home,

-but he could be hiding anywhere.

-Get out! Clear!

The team will go through every room. They want to make that arrest

and search for evidence.

Our main objective is to recover criminal assets.

Somebody must have benefitted from the criminality,

so we're mainly looking at crimes where people are making money

and they're living off that criminality, so drug dealers,

fraudsters, money launderers, armed robbers, people who steal

or break the law, commit crime, in order to make money.

If they're rich with assets, but don't go to work for a living,

where's the money come from?

A full search reveals the suspect is not home,

but the police aren't giving up.

They've spent a long time investigating their suspect

and want to check if he has fled to other addresses he's linked to.

We owe it to the public actually

to be targeting these individuals

who sometimes are seen as untouchable, but they're not.

And whilst the team in Wales search,

more officers are raiding houses in London.

The dealers have a sizeable network of associates and police believe

it could be supplying a large proportion of drugs every year.

No-one wants to give up.

Meanwhile, back in Wales,

they're still searching for the suspected drug dealer.

We're going to make our way down now

to other family members' addresses now.

Just to see whether or not there's any activity there.

The team arrive at another address the suspect is linked to.

No need for a chainsaw. The door is already open.

This time, the police have found their suspect inside.

Now officers will search the address for signs of drugs, money,

or expensive assets that they believe were bought with

money made illegally.

This is the man they have been after this morning.

And with financial investigators looking at his assets right now,

he may not be the only thing being taken away today.

Police believe their suspect

is a major local player on the drug scene,

so will be searching anywhere he may have a stash.

There's nothing found in the car, but the story doesn't end here.

Officers are about to make a discovery

that shows the man they've arrested

is living well above his obvious means.

Proceeds of Crime auctions

sell anything the police seize from criminals,

from expensive jewellery to designer shoes and even works of art.

And some items have a remarkable story behind them.

This is the Golem, a pleasure cruiser built with families in mind.

It's not the sort of item you'd expect a crook to blow his money on.

But it was snapped up by two Dutchmen

who saw how it could be the perfect boat

to help them commit a massive international crime.

But how does this yacht come to be in a Proceeds of Crime auction?

Matt Rivers is a regional manager at the National Crime Agency

in Dover and he works alongside Border Force,

investigating how crooks are making money.

The Border Force remit is to protect the coastline of the UK

and part of that is general patrolling.

Sometimes, it will be intelligence-led operations

and sometimes will be preventive operations.

It was the 31st of August 2015 and Border Force were doing

routine surveillance on the Dover coastline.

They spotted a cruising yacht

that was sailing through the Channel and listing heavily to one side.

This raised both safety concerns and suspicion,

so a Border Force cutter intercepted the boat, as the light was fading.

What you're looking for in any intercept,

be that at an airport, a port, or on a boat,

is inconsistencies in story,

nervousness from the people travelling, and anything

that just puts the hairs on the back of your neck on stand

and you think - there's something wrong here.

What they found was two men,

Hendrik Brugmans and Raymond Aalders.

And the more they questioned them,

the more their story about why they were sailing the boat

did not seem to add up.

Brugmans has been resident in the Caribbean for

a number of years, between eight and ten years, with his wife.

He's an experienced sailor.

Aalders, the crewman, as I would call him - unemployed Dutch male.

Brugmans had come from Martinique

and Aalders, the crewman as it were,

had said he'd come from Curacao, and the stamps on the passports

didn't add up to the story they were giving.

So yes, there were small identifiers,

but when you start adding them all up,

you get to a position where you think there might be a suspect here.

Investigators discovered that the men had sailed all the way

from the Caribbean to Europe, a journey of over 4,000 miles.

With the weather closing in,

it was decided the best thing to do was to escort Golem in to shore,

to further investigate the men and search the vessel.

Mark Jefferson is team leader

for the Border Force's Deep Rummage team.

He got the call and made his way as quickly as possible to Dover.

He realised he was going to have a busy day,

searching for anything squirreled away on the boat.

We can search high, we can search low, we can go into confined

spaces, because of all the equipment that we have.

Mark deployed his team,

suspicious that there was something hidden on board.

I think one of the reasons that they were

a bit suspicious about this particular yacht

was the quite considerable list that it had to one side.

I split the team up into pairs.

They started their systematic searches

and the first call that I got from one of the guys

that something was amiss was a detection of cocaine

underneath a false base of a bench seat

on what is like the wheelhouse.

They carried on with their search.

They didn't know it yet,

but they were about to make the find of a lifetime.

The reason the boat was listing heavily

was because one side was stuffed with cocaine.

With a huge quantity of cocaine now discovered,

they were convinced there was still more to find.

One detection like that

doesn't stop the rest of the searches going on

and before too long, there was another detection made

in the false bulkhead at the back of a wardrobe.

Incredibly, they went on to discover

an even larger concealment in the wheelhouse.

Another stash of cocaine in the false base of a large bench seat.

And then they found that the freshwater tanks had been

customised, in order to store massive amounts of uncut product.

Certainly from our viewpoint, from what we saw, it looked to be

a pretty professional attempt at

smuggling cocaine into Europe.

Meanwhile, National Crime Agency officers were interviewing Brugmans

and Aalders to corroborate why they had found cocaine on the vessel.

Although, at this stage of the investigation,

both suspects were keeping tight-lipped about the discovery.

But Border Force officers knew the men had sailed

one of the largest ever cocaine finds into British waters.

I think in interview later, Brugmans said he knew something wasn't right.

Well, latterly, the jury said no, he knew exactly what was going on.

But yes, you need an experienced sailor.

He's going to have an idea what's going on, at the very least,

but he'll know what's going on. Our role is, I say, twofold really.

To investigate and look at the people we have in front of us,

so the couriers. Another part of our role is to look, as we'd say,

upstream and downstream.

Who is supplying the drugs, where are the drugs being financed by,

and where are the drugs going to

and who will be not necessarily the end user but the wholesaler?

So now, officers were confronted with a boat full of cocaine,

two deeply suspicious Dutch nationals,

and a possible organised crime gang with their fingerprints all over

what looked like an international drug dealing operation.

And the search team were now ready to add up how much cocaine

they had found.

The amount was amazing.

We were shocked at the actual quantity that was found.

It was something in the region of 1.2 tonnes,

and that is a lot of weight, a lot of gear to hide.

It's a fantastic result for Border Force,

but for the National Crime Agency,

the Proceeds of Crime investigation has only now just started.

If these drugs had been cut and distributed by street dealers

in the UK, the hoard would have fetched an astonishing £120 million.

That is an awful lot of money, yeah. A big investment,

which is why the NCA obviously get involved

because it's serious organised crime behind this.

So once the case has been completed and finalised,

then the boat is released and, through an approved process,

can be sold and the benefits of that sale will go to the Treasury.

And that means that this beautiful boat is up for sale.

It's now moored on the UK mainland, but later on in the programme,

we'll see it sold here at the auction for the best possible price.

Dealers are the only winners

when people buy drugs like heroin or cocaine.

Sometimes, drug dealers can make you think they're your best friend.

Drugs can wreck lives and, across the UK,

thousands of people are currently receiving treatment for drug abuse.

Passmores House drug rehabilitation centre

works closely with drug users to help them beat their addiction.

Tracy works here at the rehabilitation centre,

helping drug users. She's a former addict herself.

And after her experiences, Tracy thinks it's vital that

dealers get stripped of their cash when they are caught.

I met my ex-husband, I'm still legally married to him...

I met him, I was coming on 17.

He seemed like everything that...would fix my life.

So, he was 6'1",

he had loads of tattoos, he was quite a big character,

and he noticed me, being a shy, timid, quite a...

Yeah, a girl that was bullied at school, really.

And he became my world.

Tracy was besotted, but there was a downside.

Her new boyfriend pushed her into trying drugs.

I'll never forget when he first rolled a joint in front of me.

I don't even smoke. And it was like, "Oh, my God! What are you doing?!"

And he was like, "What do you mean what am I doing?"

And he was like quite condescending. "It's only a bit of puff."

And I was like... I sat there, amazed, thinking, "Oh, my God!"

But I'd already given him my heart. I'd already loved him.

I was 17, quite naive.

Tracy soon started smoking her boyfriend's cannabis

and as their relationship flourished, she fell pregnant.

After the pregnancy,

her partner introduced her to highly addictive new drugs.

It was after I had my daughter

that I then couldn't get rid of the baby fat and all the rest of it

and I was quite paranoid,

and I started amphetamines.

And Tracy's partner soon pushed her into using an even worse drug,

but she didn't realise what she was getting in to.

I didn't really know about heroin.

I didn't really know about puff, but heroin I didn't know about.

Didn't know you could physically get addicted to it.

You know? I just done it a couple of days.

Within a week, I'd done it every day, and then the next week,

I'm starting to sneeze a little bit and to ache.

There wasn't no drugs there.

And I remember saying, "I feel a little bit ill. Do you feel ill?"

And he was like, "Well, you know why we're ill, don't you?

"It's the heroin, you know. We're physically addicted."

And I was like, "No way." So he'd got me just like that.

And Tracy believed the heroin was helping her.

It enabled me to sleep, it enabled me to -

when he did throw, I don't know...

When he was verbally abusive to me,

it was like I had a blanket or...I don't know,

they call it Ready Brek glow or something like that.

The comments hurt, but they didn't hurt. They bounced off.

So I coped a lot better, and slept and sort of could function,

half, being a mum, and it calmed him down.

So it worked.

Now Tracy works at the centre,

she helps others learn how to handle drugs and beat their addiction.

It's a way to do something positive after she turned to crime

to help her get money to pay drug dealers.

I would then go shoplifting and shamelessly push a pram around and

do shoplifting with my daughter, you know,

which is really quite shameful to admit.

When Tracy hit rock bottom,

she started selling drugs to feed her habit.

Inevitably, she met up with

heavyweight drug dealers in her area.

People that were above me and him really.

They didn't care really.

As they was coming, dropping off their drugs,

picking up their money, they didn't care.

And I look back now and I think what mugs we were, really.

I thought I was living a brilliant life.

I didn't have to go out shoplifting any more.

But yeah.

But you pay a heavy price for that because my daughter was there,

my house got busted, raided, the shame, um...

yeah, of police coming in to your house

and going through your bits

and, like, my daughter there, crying, you know?

Yeah, quite shameful.

Tracy ended up with a conviction and jail time.

Yeah, it's the most scariest thing that I've ever done,

you know, go to prison.

Tracy is now free of drugs and she has no doubt

that drug dealers should be stripped of the money

and expensive property they only got from selling their poison.

Hit them where it hurts. Big people up there.

Not a poor addict that's homeless and scrimping and scraping to

get £1.50 to get a bottle of cider or to get £10 together to get a hit.

You know? Think about those people.

Proceeds of Crime auctions will sell off items great and small.

They could be worth tens of thousands or a few hundred quid.

But there's always a reason why they are there.

Auction houses like this are open to the public

and even offer people the option of bidding online.

From gold watches and fancy jewellery

to paintings off the walls and shoes off their feet,

all the items are from criminals and proceeds of crime.

This mini motorbike belonged to a man named Tommy Holdsworth,

but now, it's up for sale

and our Proceeds of Crime expert, Mick Beattie,

can tell us why.

In the case of Tommy Holdsworth,

he was a burglar who burgled the house of

a friend's girlfriend by stealing her keys,

letting himself into the house and stealing the safe,

which contained some cash and jewellery, which he later

used to purchase a particular bike he'd been after for some time.

Having been arrested or identified as being potentially

responsible for that offence, he denied the offence.

The safe was found near to his house

and the investigators were able to unpick his story

of how he'd come by the money

to such an extent that the courts convicted him of the burglary.

Once Tommy Holdsworth was convicted and sentenced for the crime,

the bike that he bought with the stolen cash was seized

and it can now be sold at auction to the highest bidder.

Wherever the items have come from or why they are here,

the people that come to these auctions are looking for a bargain.

9,000.

Aidan Larkin runs the auctions, so how much money does he think

they'll recover from this quirky little bike?

Motorbikes like that, for some people they're a fun toy,

they're a collectible for children, but there's always

a strong market for anything like that - quad bikes, pit bikes market.

We always find in these types of auctions,

the type of person that's going to buy the car

might buy that for their son

or they might be here to buy a watch for themselves,

so that's why we try and offer a bit of a variety of items.

Some of the proceeds from the sale of the bike will go back to

the Government and get spent on good causes.

Aidan has an idea of what they might get for it.

There's lots of industry guide prices available,

so it's quite easy for vehicles particularly to be able

to say what are they selling for across the UK

and then we can use that as our guide before the auction.

Of course, not everyone knows when there's

a Proceeds of Crime auction coming up,

but Aidan will work the room to get the best price for the bike.

There's been a big bit of interest, but, like I say,

it is a bit of a novelty item,

so we're probably talking a couple of hundred pounds,

as opposed to anything to set the world on fire really.

Hopefully, Aidan can do a bit better than that. Let's have a look.

Lot number 16 in your catalogue now.

The CW1-10 pit bike with the Red Bull logos.

Interesting little lot, this, for sale with no reserve.

Where are we on the pit bike? £50, I'll take that.

At £50. Bid in at £50. That's £50. 100. At 100. £150.

Aidan is working the crowd.

-It's his job to get the best price for the bike.

-225.

Gentleman's bid at 225.

250 online. At £250 online.

With me online. £250. 275 seated.

Gentleman's bid at £275.

At £275. 300 online.

It's against you, sir. At £300 with the online bidder.

At £300 with the online bidder. Give you time to think about it.

£300. And the hammer's up and I'm selling at £300. 325.

It's back in the hall. At £325 with the hall bidder.

At 325, giving the same chance online.

350 against you. At £350.

Shakes the head. At £350 with the online bidder.

And the hammer's up and I'm selling once...

twice...

-third and last.

-BANGS GAVEL

-Sold online. Thank you.

-Aidan's done well.

100 quid more than expected, but still a bargain price.

Mini motorbikes like that one can be a bit of fun,

but they can also be a problem if children ride them antisocially,

so in one forward-looking town,

they're using the money raised in Proceeds of Crime sales

to make bad biking a thing of the past.

Trying to keep children off the street is a job taken

very seriously here in Birstall, a small village near Leeds.

Police have worked with the local community to help fund

a charity called Bumpy.

And as a result of their work, the children arriving on this bus

are about to benefit from money

raised in Proceeds of Crime auctions.

We were riding on pavement and police drove past

and gave us a warning.

We were all going round on this, like, roundabout

on my mate's motorbike and then cut out and walked down the street

a little bit and the police said that there were complaints

about an orange motorbike.

Local police and charity workers decided they could find something

better than roaming the streets on two wheels for children to do.

We're just trying to teach them the real basics and fundamentals,

helmets, protective gear, so they don't hurt themselves and they know

the difference between where they can ride and where they can't ride.

CHILDREN LAUGH

The sessions start with some basic safety training,

something the children don't always bother with without encouragement.

But it's important.

Since 2004, seven people have been killed riding mini motorbikes

and six of them were under 15.

So using Proceeds of Crime money to teach children good practice

could be saving lives.

The scheme has just received nearly £5,000 from twice-elected

local Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson.

We've got some young lads here today who have been identified as

being at risk of committing crime

or antisocial behaviour through off-road biking.

Got the neighbourhood police team here,

and for me to be able to provide a grant from the proceeds of crime

to put into this project is fantastic

and is exactly what I envisaged when I was elected - to set up this fund.

Seeing the scheme do so much to help children is

a particular pleasure for Carolyn.

It was her sister, Julia, who set up the original scheme in the '80s.

Julia has since passed away, but Carolyn is determined to keep

running the scheme and carry on her sister's good work.

I feel really proud that the work that Julia set out to do

27 years ago, we're still here despite funding cuts,

we're still working at grassroots, working with the police

and young people that could be involved in crime.

And the nearly £5,000 from proceeds of crime is what's helped

keep them going.

Bumpy stood out because it's got a proven track record,

interaction with the local police team, they're giving up their time,

and they're making a real impact in improving community safety.

They're here today,

which is positive, and they're perhaps not causing

a nuisance in some of the areas out in Leeds, but obviously,

if they can learn around the safety,

the impact that they're having as individuals

and in their community,

and that it contributes to better safety for them

and the community when they go back home today.

And the children may not realise it, but it's cash from

criminals that's being used to give them something fun to do.

I like coming to work with them and everything

and they're not telling us off for driving a motorbike.

It's really good fun to learn the proper way.

It's a good experience cos when I'm older,

it means I can go to more tracks.

Across the UK,

crooks have lost millions of pounds after having their illegally-made

cash seized from them, but actually taking a criminal's assets

can often require a major operation by the police.

Earlier on, we saw how officers in Wales were launching

an operation to arrest a suspected drug dealer.

Specialist financial investigators from Wales' Tarian crime group

are also on the operation.

They believe that the suspect might have large sums of cash

hidden away and expensive assets he's only got as a result

of making money through crime,

and now the suspect has been arrested,

they're looking for vital evidence.

Police believe he has use of this vehicle,

parked near the property,

but a search hasn't revealed anything in the car.

Both houses he's linked to are being searched.

Financial investigators are looking for any clue indicating

an expensive lifestyle and finally,

the Tarian team have found something in plain sight.

Looks like it won't just be the dealer

who is going to be taken away from the property.

These are quad bikes and they're not an everyday item.

The Tarian team believe they are worth over £12,000.

They'll be seized and financial investigators will require

the suspect to explain where the money came from to buy these items.

If it is necessary and we think that you are going to go and sell

all those items, take them out of the UK, hide them from us or

get rid of them, we will seize them because we have the power to do so.

Several hours later, and Detective Inspector Julian Ball has updates

from all the other police operations that were happening simultaneously.

Our enforcement action today has been highly successful.

We have six persons in custody.

A number of addresses have been searched across

both the South Wales region and also the South East of England.

And this has resulted in the arrests which I've alluded to,

but also, we've identified a number of assets which we were

previously unaware of, in the region of £300,000 hidden in bank accounts,

and also a number of properties which we weren't aware of.

Together with this,

we've seized a number of high value vehicles as well.

So, all in all, a very good day.

Following questioning,

six men in both countries pleaded guilty to drugs offences.

As a result, the Tarian team may force them to sell their assets

to pay back money they made by selling drugs.

You don't have to be a drug dealer to come under suspicion of

a Proceeds of Crime investigation.

Any type of fraud will put you under the spotlight,

but when it comes to buying property,

some people think they've found a clever way to beat the system.

When someone is found to have benefitted from criminal acts,

the court system determines how much money they must pay back.

The job of actually making sure that money gets paid is done by

specialist officers, known as the Asset Confiscation Enforcement Team.

In Wales, the Tarian unit have their own officers dedicated to

just this job.

And that's what's happening for convicted mortgage fraudster

Dean Ahmed, who was sentenced to two years and eight months in 2014.

He made over £750,000 by making false mortgage applications that

allowed him to buy properties across Wales,

whilst also claiming benefits from Cardiff Council.

Basically, he'd committed a large number of frauds over several years

and from that, he'd amassed quite a substantial property portfolio.

And mortgage fraud is on the rise.

Solicitor Joseph Monson is a specialist

who has seen cases like this before.

A mortgage fraud is simply a lie or a misrepresentation,

as a lawyer would call it, in order to get finance,

usually on a mortgage application.

So it's simply saying the wrong amount of money that you earn

each year or saying that you have a different job or

a different family situation.

Well, that could be regarded as a mortgage fraud at the lower end.

At the more extreme end,

you have multiple mortgages on the same property at the same time,

you have the buyer and the seller being the same person,

illegitimately, without telling the mortgage lender,

or in this case, a misstatement or a frankly false identity.

What Dean Ahmed had done was

to cunningly fool mortgage companies

into giving him a small fortune.

He'd used false details or used, in one case at least,

the identity of a previous partner of his to obtain mortgages,

obviously mortgages that he wouldn't have been entitled to

had he used the correct information.

And whilst living the life of a property mogul,

he was telling the local authority he needed financial support.

For a number of years,

he was claiming unemployment benefit

and because of his property portfolio,

he was obviously receiving rental income from that.

However, he wasn't declaring that,

which wouldn't have allowed him then

to legitimately claim unemployment benefit.

He'd built himself up quite a substantial property empire.

Some of these properties were in Cardiff,

some were down in West Wales, in the form of a holiday chalet,

and he also had properties over in Spain as well.

But following his trial,

a judge ordered Dean Ahmed to pay back

around a quarter of a million pounds to the state

because the ACE Team believed he had that much in assets.

So far, he has sold off one property for roughly £143,000,

but as part of their investigation,

the ACE Team spotted something else he owns.

This is Port Eynon, a popular seaside resort in Wales,

and convicted fraudster Dean Ahmed owns a chalet here.

So, Barrie and the ACE Team are forcing him to sell it and

return the money, but Dean Ahmed is chancing his arm.

He wants the chalet sold for big money to clear his debt,

but is Port Eynon a big money property town?

The property market as far as Gower's concerned does tend to be

quite seasonal, especially if you're talking about the chalets,

which are normally eight or nine-month occupancy,

you have to be empty for three or four months.

They can be very popular for holiday letting out.

At the same time, there's a fair choice, so if you're looking

to sell, you need to be quite realistic with your expectations.

So, Port Eynon has a buoyant property market,

but there's a problem.

Fraudster Dean Ahmed has asked for his home to be advertised for

nearly £90,000, most of what he still owes,

but Barrie suspects it's not worth that much.

£90,000 for a property of that type is completely unachievable.

And I would definitely say that £50,000 is

a more accurate price for a property of that type in that area.

And the property expert agrees.

Normally, two bedroom properties range from £40,000 to £50,000.

Sometimes, you can get a fraction more, but really that's the sort of

main range for those that don't have...

have a standard accommodation.

If it's got a very nice view, you may get a fraction more,

but normally £40,000 to £50,000.

Barrie and the ACE Team think there's no point

advertising the property with agents at £90,000

and they've taken action.

They've put the chalet into an unreserved auction.

It will be sold for whatever the room wants to pay on the day.

It'll be a miracle if it sells for the 90,000 that Dean Ahmed wants.

Kick things off at £40,000.

It's away at £40,000. Take 5. At £40,000. 45.

Bid is 45,000. It's 50 with me.

It's in the hall, it's with me, it's 50,000.

It's with the written bid, it's £50,000.

Well, following the bidding,

it looks like the chalet has been sold,

but for just under £50,000,

so there was no auction miracle for Dean Ahmed.

£50,000, I would say,

is a realistic price for that property being sold for.

Naturally, the police are pleased to get the chalet sold, but Dean Ahmed

has been told he has to find a total of nearly £250,000,

so there's still a large outstanding balance

and the police will chase him for as long as it takes.

As the ACE Team, we will continually monitor and review cases

within our jurisdiction,

looking continually to identify further assets,

and if we do come across further assets,

there is a system in place from which we can

actually go back to the court and inform the court

and look to recover that outstanding money.

Some criminals throw their money at expensive items,

like jewellery or cars to show off in,

but others spend big money to help them commit crimes.

All that matters to police is that they seize the assets

and sell them off.

Earlier on, we saw how a very expensive item

was seized by the Government.

When Border Force officers spotted a suspicious boat

sailing through British waters, they immediately intercepted it.

As they moved in, they knew something was wrong,

but they didn't realise how serious a find they were about to make.

Their cutter ship pulled up to the 52ft yacht they had spotted.

Its name was the Golem and, bizarrely,

it was listing to one side.

Officers boarded the vessel, not sure what to expect.

The search revealed the boat had been modified.

Various compartments had been built into the walls

and concealed inside them.

What the team discovered was an astounding amount of Class A drugs.

The estimated street value we would put on it - around £120 million.

That is an awful lot of money, yeah.

A big investment, which is why the NCA obviously get involved,

because it's serious organised crime behind this.

It was one of the cleverest concealments the search team

had ever seen - false walls hiding millions of pounds worth of cocaine.

The two men on board were later given huge jail sentences

and whilst they sit in jail, their boat is now to be sold

at a Proceeds of Crime auction, and the money given to the Government.

There's the putting people in prison,

which some criminals will see as an occupational hazard,

and we also need to take the assets away.

So, crime doesn't pay. But also, it is about hitting criminals in the pocket.

Criminals commit crime to gain assets, to gain money.

And part of Proceeds of Crime Act

and part of law enforcement activity

is to take those assets, take that money and turn it around.

We have been instructed by a government agency

to sell the Golem.

The Golem was a 57ft sailing yacht

and it contained a large amount of cocaine and other Class A drugs.

It was seized by the agencies and it's now been given to us

to sell, put it into the auction, and try at achieve the highest

price possible, for that money to go back into the public purse.

We find that those items,

it really doesn't matter where you offer them for sale.

Someone that wants to buy that anywhere across the UK,

even as far as France and Germany, will bid online.

So, the actual location of the bidder is irrelevant.

As long as they find the product they want, they'll fly across,

inspect the item, and then wait until the actual auction

this evening, and bid on the item.

The auction house is full and many bidders have registered

from right across the world.

It's the group asset recovery manager's job to make sure

he can get as much money as possible for the Government

by selling the boat at a good price.

Lot number 75 is the Nordia 57ft sailing yacht, the Golem.

Affirmative press, it's a spectacular-looking vessel.

It's been recovered by the Home Office.

We've been engaged now to sell this

and put money back into the public purse.

This could be a fantastic investment.

It's here to be sold, with no reserve.

There's a fair bit of online activity

and a couple of phone bids, we're just getting ready.

Because the drug smugglers refitted the boat to stash the cocaine,

it's reduced the value down to an estimated £75,000.

So, what will an open market be prepared to pay for this boat?

Kick things off at £40,000.

It's away at £40,000. Taking fives. At £40,000. 45.

55 online.

It's with me at 60.

At £60,000 with the commission bid.

65. With me, online bidder at 65. 70 with the commission bid.

With online bidders joining in from around the world,

the price is slowly beginning to rise.

72. Took your time. 74, with me, another online bidder.

At £76,000, on the Golem, at £76,000. 78. We're taking our time.

At 78,000. Bid at 78,000.

A 57ft sailing yacht.

At £78,000. At £78,000. 80.

At £80,000. At £80,000.

On the Golem, at £80,000. Sounds like a great investment. At £80,000.

82. Bid at 82,000.

At £82,000. Is there any last minute bids in the hall?

At 82,000. At £82,000. Bid at 82,000.

At £82,000. The hammer's up. At 86,000.

Once, at 86,000.

88.

Testing me. The hammer wasn't down. At £90,000.

£90,000 so far for a family yacht used to traffic cocaine

with an estimated street value of £120 million.

And at £94,000 and the hammer's up. At £94,000. 95.

At 95,000.

Do you wait until I say the hammer's up?

At £95,000. 96. Picking up pace now.

At £96,000.

Once.

Going to miss it. At £96,000 twice. Third and last.

-BANGS GAVEL

-Sold online. Well done.

The sailors on board this yacht

were sentenced to more than 30 years in prison

and now their boat has raised £96,000,

which will be paid back into the Treasury.

We were very pleased with that.

We had a large online presence bidding on the Golem.

We knew, we can always gauge these things because of the people

who come to view the items before the auction,

so you get a good feeling for how it was going to do,

but we were very pleased to see it reach the higher end

of our reserve, and get right up towards the £100,000.

Even when criminals are behind bars,

they're still paying off their debt to society.

And when they come out, if they haven't cleared that debt,

the police will continue to hunt down their ill gotten gains.