Men who grew cannabis in 26 factories across the country ordered to pay back over £200,000
Three criminals who were part of a conspiracy to produce cannabis in 26 factories across the UK, including in Farnham, Chertsey, Godstone and Thames Valley, have been ordered to pay back over £200,000 under POCA (Proceeds of Crime Act 2002) Confiscation Orders.
Moinul Islam, 37, and Shajahan Ali, 37, and Ziaur Rahman, 27, all from Uxbridge, were sentenced to a total of 20 years imprisonment for their part in using rented properties in the county and across the UK to grow vast quantities of the drug.
The three all pleaded guilty at Guildford Crown Court in 2012.
In a new development, the men were ordered to repay a total of £224,793 at a court hearing last Tuesday (16 September).
Of that sum, £176,070 will be paid as compensation to the landlords of various properties that were damaged as a result of the factories being set up.
That figure will come from money stored in bank accounts and cash seized at the time of their arrests as well as proceeds from the sale of houses, vehicles and designer watches.
Their convictions followed a six month investigation led by Surrey Police Detective Inspector Simon Dann called Operation Lambda, during which officers seized cannabis with a street value estimated to be in excess of £3 million which had been cultivated by criminal gangs from Vietnam.
"The cannabis production in this case was on an industrial scale which resulted in large profits for the organised criminal group who were behind it” said Detective Inspector Andy Haslam, Head of the Surrey Police's Economic Crime Unit.
"POCA was designed to prevent offenders from profiting from such crimes and enable authorities to pursue their ill-gotten gains and take them away.
"The Confiscation Orders granted in this case now means that a number of victims will be compensated and is a testament to the hard work of our team in identifying the assets this group had obtained through their criminal enterprise.
"I hope this case reinforces the message that as well as serving any sentence handed down by the courts, criminals can also expect us to hit them where it hurts – in the pocket.”