Bankers help police seize £1.6m from West Midlands drug gangs

'Operation Pound' was first launched by former West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) David Jamieson in 2019 and uses high-tech anti-fraud methods to snare crooks.

It was initially a two-year project which saw two bankers and an intelligence analyst taken on at a cost of £160,000.

Mr Jamieson's successor as commissioner, Simon Foster, who took over in May, said £1.6m in assets had now been seized by the team under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

He said: "It would seem apt that those who have profited from selling drugs are now funding the very team that is taking that money back off them.

"Drugs have a terrible impact on the lives of so many people and so I’m delighted to see the profits of those at the top of the criminal underworld taken from them.

"This scheme will hit criminals where it hurts most, in the pocket."

Jenny Birch, head of the economic crime unit, said: "I am so proud of the team and what they have achieved in difficult circumstances during the pandemic.

"This money will be used to fund vital work in the community.

"I am grateful to the Police and Crime Commissioner for funding my team so we can recover money and assets from criminals operating in the West Midlands."

Mr Foster said the team had recovered enough cash to cover the wages of staff.

The PCC has targeted drug dealers as part of his crime plan, in which he also quotes research claiming stop and search is of "limited use" in reducing rates of violent crime.

It comes after West Midlands saw by far the biggest rise in crime in the country in the latest official figures, with violence, weapons possession and rape all rocketing.