Criminal treasure trove found

LONDON - A police raid on three safe deposit vaults in salubrious London neighbourhoods has uncovered an "Aladdin's cave of criminality" including ivory smuggling, child pornography and murder that has sparked more than 1000 inquiries around the world, Scotland Yard has said.

Safe Deposit Centres Ltd was targeted in simultaneous raids last northern summer and 3554 security boxes were seized from its premises in Hampstead, Park Lane and Edgware as part of a crackdown on money-laundering by organised crime gangs across the world.

But the extent to which the buildings were also being used as a left-luggage facility by the full spectrum of the underworld was revealed yesterday when detectives released a list of discoveries that included 35 million ($92 million) in cash, six suitcases of powdered gold, class A drugs, including ketamine, and several handguns. O

ne box contained a hammer, chisel and pipe wrench which had lain untouched for a decade.

Officers said Operation Rize, which has so far resulted in more than 40 arrests and 11 prosecutions, had succeeded in dealing a significant blow to organised criminals by seizing assets that they assumed were safe from confiscation.

Among the sums of cash seized was a 100,000 "nest egg" for a serving prisoner.

Although many deposit boxes, which ranged from shoebox-sized containers to walk-in vaults, belonged to innocent individuals, police said more than half were now thought to be connected to criminal activity, including prostitution and people-trafficking.

Some 700 boxholders, whose assets include 15 million of the seized cash, have been referred to HM Revenue and Customs to be investigated for tax evasion, along with a number of "ghosts", individuals who have evaded the tax system entirely.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Ponting, from Scotland Yard's economic and specialist crime unit, said: "We have uncovered an Aladdin's cave of criminality that has disrupted organised crime around the world ... Crime can be punished by a prison sentence or community payback, but it can also be punished in other ways ... We are taking these assets and putting them back into the public purse."

- INDEPENDENT