When the cell door slams shut on a criminal, you might think
they've got their just deserts, 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.
Search warrant! Search warrant!
In this series, we'll see police forces across the country
use their Proceeds of Crime powers to arrest criminals
and take away their ill-gotten gains.
Everything from high-end cars to designer handbags are seized
and sent to a Proceeds of Crime auction. Sold!
We follow the stories behind the criminals' fancy goods,
then watch as members of the public bid to take them home
and discover where the money raised ends up.
SIREN WAILS
Coming up, police in the northeast
crack down on drug dealers all across the region.
We need to make sure that we get in there rapid to make sure
that we maximise the possibility of a successful prosecution.
And they make some unexpected finds.
A drug-dealing rap star from London gets his best bling auctioned off.
At 65, 65. Bidding at £65...
And we hear how a group in Somerset is taking kids off the streets
and back to nature.
I've seen a massive change in some of the kids that have been on the project
and the opportunities that they've been given have really helped them,
so it's really good to see that funding is going to
something really positive and back into the community.
Drug dealing is one of the most lucrative crimes
in the western world.
Emergency services are some of the first people to see the harm
it causes and that makes them realise the need
to act against dealers.
But it's not just money they seize.
Sometimes they find things they really weren't expecting.
Cleveland, in the northeast of England.
Police officers here are amongst the most successful in the country
at arresting heroin dealers on their patch
and, in one year-long period, carried out over 140 raids
designed to prevent dealers selling on their streets.
And officers here need to be on their game.
The region has ongoing problems with drug use.
Police have received many complaints from the communities
who are fed up of blatant drug dealings within the streets.
In Stockton, between 2015 and 2017,
there was 57 drug-related deaths
and, obviously, this is quite concerning.
So this is one of the reasons why I felt that my team
needed to do something positive within Stockton
to try and reduce the amount of drug dealing.
And one of the best ways to frustrate organised crime groups
is to hit the properties they use to deal drugs to the public.
And, today, Cleveland Police's Community Drug Enforcement Team
are targeting a number of addresses where intelligence tells them
dealers are making large sums of money selling class-A drugs.
Officers will strike early at the target addresses
where drug dealing and profit making are suspected...
..and one team is about to strike.
Just off camera, the team are charging into a property
where they suspect there's been drug dealing.
A couple of miles away, another team of specially trained officers
are also getting ready to raid a property.
Police! Police!
And, for all of today's task forces, speed is key.
And back at the first property, the officers are already inside.
SHOUTING
DOGS BARKING
Police officers have uncovered some dangerous weaponry...
..as these lethal machete knives are removed from the scene.
But, upstairs, it's something outside the building
that's caught one sharp officer's eye.
There's something in a blue bag just outside a bedroom window.
It might be nothing, but it needs checking out.
It's been a successful morning for these Cleveland officers,
with dangerous knives taken off the streets.
And this man will be brought in for questioning.
The blue bag was a red herring and contained harmless rubbish,
but officers will search the property for drugs.
And, later on, we'll see what they uncover at the second address.
Police! Police!
Often, the clothes we wear tells others a lot about
what sort of people we are and how much money we've got.
Clothes and jewellery are how we make a first impression on others
and some people seem to dress like millionaires,
but how do they make their money?
At the Proceeds of Crime auction today - fashion.
The auction features a large number of different items
from a range of brands and all highly desirable.
But these fashion items have a little bit of history.
Some of them may even have been worn in music video shoots.
But will they sell and why are they here?
Third and last.
HE BANGS GAVEL
# Listen up Everybody in attendance
# The start before the ending... #
This is King Krus.
He's a musician from London.
But as we're about to see, he also had business interests in Wiltshire
and they weren't too harmonious with living a crime-free life.
In fact, his business interests were bringing him
to the attention of the law,
in the shape of Detective Inspector Paul Franklin
of Wiltshire Police's Proactive Crime Team.
They're a unit of specialist officers who deal with drug dealing
and prolific county lines dealers
who live in one area, but travel out to another to sell their drugs.
The Dedicated Crime Team are a proactive team and they're
actually tasked with countering
the county lines threat against Wiltshire,
and, particularly this team,
the county lines threat that's in Swindon.
So that is urban street gangs from Birmingham, Manchester and London
setting up drug dealing lines in Swindon
to make as much money as possible.
And the money then goes out of Swindon, back to their bases,
whether that be London, Manchester or any other urban area.
# Got support from my people but I gotta do this one on my own... #
And DI Franklin soon saw that Londoner King Krus
was boasting about how successful he was in these songs.
They started to gather evidence that seemed to suggest
he was selling drugs on their patch.
With the rapper endlessly posting high-living videos like this,
police soon began to build up evidence.
Police officers in Wiltshire spotted him
making a series of trips to their county.
They suspected he was delivering drugs
and decided to send in a team to his home.
Officer Snoad was present on the operation.
From the address, we located approximately £20,000 worth
of Class-A drugs and £10,000 worth of cannabis.
King Krus was fond of making videos to post on YouTube
and a lot of the content suggests he had access to a lot of money.
# New trap lines Gotta get them stacks in
# Five lines at one time
# What you know about trap king? #
As part of the investigation,
officers viewed the videos he was starring in
and were surprised at how brazen the young dealer was.
Some of this is filmed in a recording studio,
so this is not a...
This is a proper production.
And that, in itself, would have cost a small fortune.
And he didn't do any legitimate work,
it's all the proceeds of drug dealing.
And other videos show him with large sums of cash,
buying very expensive shoes that the rest of us couldn't afford.
That's a Gucci trainer,
they're £500 a pair,
but officers weren't surprised.
It's the typical videos of gold chains, champagne, cars.
He's clearly flaunting everything he's got.
That's where his money, I believe, is where his money was going.
A - towards his clothing, so he can pose,
and, B - towards his videos, which he was posing his ill-gotten gains.
After his arrest, King Krus was released on bail,
but couldn't seem to stop committing crime.
Whilst he was on bail for Wiltshire Police at the time for drug dealing,
he was also caught in Essex.
Very similar sort of set-up, where he was dealing drugs to...
..dealing crack cocaine and heroin to users.
For rapper King Krus, it was the end of the line.
He was put on trial for supplying narcotics and found guilty.
He was given an eight-year jail sentence.
The officers were able to secure
a £90,000 confiscation order against him...
..and they knew where there was money to be found.
Later, we'll see some of the luxury items he had.
They might not be to everyone's taste,
but most of us couldn't afford them either.
Earlier on, we saw how officers from Cleveland Police's Community Drug Enforcement Team
are carrying out a series of raids
against local dealers making money from drugs.
Arrests were made and this man was later charged
with conspiracy to supply Class-A drugs.
It's a big operation and officers are arresting suspects
throughout the Stockton area,
just as these officers are preparing to strike.
The next address is a property believed to be connected
to drug supply, but how?
Police intend to gain rapid entry to prevent any evidence,
like drugs or cash, from being destroyed.
But it's no easy task.
Police! Police!
Police!
The door is now bashed clean off its hinges
and, having made a fast entry,
the search for drugs and weapons can begin.
But, before they can do too much,
the officers come across something that stops them in their tracks.
So we've executed a warrant here today.
We are looking for a specific offender.
But when we've executed the warrant and got inside,
there's a 14-year-old youth in there.
He's been missing for a substantial amount of time.
And this is what we're dealing with, the challenges,
where young children are exploited by these organised crime groups.
And they are used often as mules, as traffickers.
You know, they have their hands on drugs.
And, you know, it keeps the members of the organised crime group
more distanced from the actual supply.
But, you know, when you think of a 14-year-old boy
who's living in amongst this, it's quite horrifying, really.
And we see that it's a real national problem,
where we see children exploited.
The suspicion is that drug dealers will be using youngsters
like the one found today
to deliver their drugs and collect their profits.
The child does the dirty work, while the dealer stays far away.
But police want to fight that.
We need to make sure that we're getting into schools
and we're doing some early education within the schools
to let them know the dangers and the consequences.
The task now is how to get the young person they found
back into regular society.
And, later on, we'll hear from a parent
who knows just how hard that can be.
They think that they're having a fantastic, exciting, glamorous time
because they're being paid £100 in cash a day.
They don't understand that they're working 24 hours a day
and they're not even getting a minimum wage.
What do crooks spend their money on?
Well, fast cars and expensive clothes are the big winners,
but most criminals have one thing in common -
they will take your cash and absolutely spoil themselves.
A team of staff at the Proceeds of Crime auction
are just packing away part of a shipment of seized items.
Some of them are very desirable and rare
and they all belong to one man,
one man who is probably one of the last people
you'd suspect was a crook.
Guisborough - a nice part of the world to hang your hat.
It has a thriving market
and even a semi-ruined priory dating back to the 12th century.
It's not a hot spot for police activity,
but one case did get officers out on to the charming streets here.
Guisborough's a lovely place to live and work and socialise.
It's a really nice area.
It was once part of North Yorkshire. part of Cleveland now, as we speak.
However, it is a more affluent area of this county.
Detective Sergeant Andy King from Cleveland Police knows the town
and was called in to investigate a very unusual case not far away.
It was relating to a businessman who was running an estate agents,
who'd basically stolen money from the estate of one of the victims.
And, as a power of attorney, he'd taken money from a person
he was supposed to be helping.
This is Roger Darnton,
a local estate agent with business knowledge.
He'd been given power of attorney to help set up and oversee
financial affairs for several local families.
He had access to their cash.
As a power of attorney, you're required to act in the best interests,
but what he was doing was using their money to fund his lifestyle.
In fact, Roger Darnton ran the most successful estate agency in the town.
The allegation that he had committed fraud was a shock -
even to the police.
We then conducted an investigation, which resulted in us
attending the Guisborough area, arresting him at his home address
and dealing with him as a result of this crime.
Darnton was interviewed by Andy's colleagues
on the Economic Crime Team
and a full investigation was launched.
The local estate agent was being accused of secretly taking
inheritance money belonging to his clients
and police found evidence to back up the claims.
The investigation quickly identified
that Darnton had befriended vulnerable people.
He'd become executors on the will and changed the wills.
He was forging signatures.
He was signing cheques that were left blank by one of the executors
because they trusted him explicitly.
He was taking money from the accounts
and putting it through his own accounts.
It was follow the trail of the money
because, if we follow the trail of the money,
it always comes back to him.
And once we'd done that, it was easy enough a case to prove.
And he was charged with in excess of over £100,000.
And in Guisborough, when news of what happened hit the local papers,
it was a huge shock.
Roger Darnton was a pillar of the community.
He was voted Citizen of the Year in 2004.
He was known as Mr Guisborough.
He was a trustworthy person
who worked and did local things for the community -
walks, talks, founder member of the museum here
that was formed in 1989.
His business had lasted for years here, the local business,
and his family have been here since the 18th century.
This once model, upstanding citizen
had destroyed his reputation AND his business.
This was his business that he'd ran for many years as an estate agent.
He had the monopoly on the buying and selling of housing in the Guisborough area.
And he was known as Mr Guisborough,
and he would deal with most properties,
the buying and selling, in this whole area.
After 35 years of working in the town,
Roger Darnton was forced to close down
and serve a two-year prison sentence.
But where had all the money he'd stolen gone?
Well, Andy believes that much of it was used to pay for some of these.
The antiques, I've never seen so many.
We had to have them specially recovered
because we didn't want them to deteriorate.
And as we say, it took over two truckloads,
which is one-and-a-half articulated lorries,
to remove all them antiques, to give some kind of scale.
This wasn't a simple table,
this was an unbelievable amount of furniture
that he just simply bought and was trading and buying and selling
out of the proceeds of money that he was taking.
And for the team at the auction house,
preparing Mr Darnton's collection for sale is no small feat.
This is the first time we've ever seen a quantity of antiques
from one person...from one person.
This is... Again, this is just a very small amount of what we've got.
There was 12 10 feet...10-foot-tall packaging cases
which, er...which were all full and brought the antiques in.
There's enough in the collection to fill a shop more than once.
And there's one piece that's definitely attracting attention.
This particular table, if you look at this, there's already been,
we believe, a valuation on this table,
that it's a Chippendale table.
We haven't had that confirmed,
but this is the whole point of getting the correct valuation.
If this is, as it looks to be, a Chippendale table,
this value of this table could be a quite considerable amount of money.
There's also some crockery that looks set to fetch a tidy sum.
This is part of the Evesham Collection.
Very decorative, the gold rim lining.
There's probably well over 100 pieces in this collection.
So, yep, we're hoping that this particular set
will do well over £1,000 on the day.
But what are these proceeds of Darnton's crime actually worth?
You never know, we could find a little gem
within the collection that we haven't seen yet
because all the pieces haven't been released.
We could find a wee gem in amongst all of that,
which could increase the value considerably, and let's hope we do.
Roger Darnton had stolen money from vulnerable people
to buy all this bric-a-brac
and those people are still recovering from that betrayal.
Detective Sergeant King has a statement that was read in court.
During the course of this investigation,
a number of statements were obtained to prove the case.
As in any case and in any crime,
victim impact statements are taken to show the court some time later
what type of impact this has had on the victims -
and a number were read out in court.
"I felt broken. Gutted.
"Darnton has ruined my life.
"My life has been turned upside down.
"The worry of this has brought normal life to a halt
"and caused me so much distress.
"The anxiety I feel is always with me.
"Sometimes I can push it to the back of my mind,
"but it's often the first thing I think about each day.
"I can't enjoy things that used to bring me small pleasures
"because I constantly think about the betrayal,
"which then brings on an awful depression.
"I now find it difficult to put my trust in anybody,
"worry about being evicted from my home
"and find it difficult to keep going and stay hopeful.
"I feel sad, disappointed,
"but also angry that I have been taken advantage of in such a way."
And that was a very heartfelt victim, who struggles to this day,
and won't know at the outcome of this
whether she'll still able to stay in her house
because of the financial situation it's put her in.
Cleveland Police are pursuing a confiscation order
against Roger Darnton and seeking to identify how much
money they can recover for victims
by selling his antique assets.
Earlier, we saw young rapper King Krus get arrested and jailed
for dealing drugs.
He was also ordered to repay £90,000 to the state -
the money he made selling drugs.
Police officers were tasked with finding goods to sell
to raise the money.
We identified mainly clothing within his address -
that's where he was spending his money.
From jeans to tops,
it was all Versace, Gucci,
Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton.
He was setting himself up as a gangster, a rap star.
You had this culture and this image around him that, perhaps,
those people who were teenage
would find impressive and want to emulate,
and others think that, actually, he is a serious player,
so then they don't want to cross him. It's all about the image.
But in the end, it was King Krus's blinged up wardrobe
that gave the game away.
We have located receipts for the clothing that he bought.
£710, £195...
He was living well beyond his means,
so it's only right that we take that from him
as he's purchased it from criminality.
But designer brands like Gucci and Prada have a resale value
and officers now plan to take all the clothes shown in his flashy
videos and sell them off.
Police think it's the right thing to do.
It was all funded through the sale of crack and heroin,
through that sale of drugs to people
that were addicts and desperate for their next fix.
They find their money from anywhere.
He took all that money and that's what he was spending it on,
just frittering it away on a lavish lifestyle that was false
because it wasn't honestly earned.
It was just the image of a really successful man in flash clothing.
Later on, we'll see why some brands are so popular...
..and watch as the rapper turned dealer
loses two of his fanciest items.
Selling drugs can make some people rich,
but, as the drug world is growing and changing,
it can have a very traumatic impact on some people's family lives.
Earlier on, we saw how police officers in Cleveland carried out
a series of raids at addresses linked to drug dealing.
In one house they raided, they made a very frightening discovery,
but one that is becoming more and more common in towns
across the country.
They found a youngster who had been reported missing.
They believe he may have been involved
in county lines drug dealing.
We spoke to one parent who lives near London.
She's asked not to be identified, but we'll call her Laura.
She and her husband adopted three children when they were very young,
but now believes two of them have been sucked into the world
of drug dealing - and it all happened so unexpectedly.
I have three adopted sons,
who are all in their late teens.
They came to live with me and my husband
before they were five.
Very sweet boys, very creative,
got on well at school, joined every sports team going,
was popular, had friends, went to lots of parties.
But, as the boys hit their teenage years, life got harder -
no surprise there.
But two of her sons had extreme behavioural issues.
The problem got so bad one of her sons ended up in care.
There was a violent episode and he got arrested,
and we asked for him to be taken into care temporarily.
That's called a Section 20 arrangement, where you still have
full parental responsibility.
So, we asked for that...
..with a view to him coming home when he'd got some help.
At the age of 16, her middle son was placed
in semi-independent accommodation for over 16-year-olds.
They didn't realise that, by trying to help, they'd actually gotten him
closer to the world of county lines drug dealers.
These places are disgusting and the people running them
are just making money out of local authorities
and desperate, vulnerable children.
They have an adult there, 24/7, who just sits in an office,
children come and go as they please.
There's a lot of drug taking.
There's an awful lot of...
..vulnerability, which isn't really acknowledged,
so drug dealers and county lines gangs
know where the semi-independent homes are.
They know where to find these children.
It's the perfect place for somebody who wants to exploit young people.
By now, both of Laura's older sons were living in care facilities
and she soon saw the process by which people in the drug world
would take an interest in boys like hers.
What happens often is a young person
hanging around vulnerable children,
perhaps at a children's home or semi-independent placement,
or at schools,
turns up with some fantastically expensive sports branded
piece of clothing, or some really expensive trainers,
and all the kids know exactly how much these things are worth,
so they're very interested.
"Why has this person got this and I haven't got it?
"I couldn't buy that from my pocket money or my Saturday job."
And so, of course, that young person will tell them
how they can make money to buy this fantastic piece of,
you know, tracksuit or whatever,
and they get drawn in.
And that's exactly what happened to her eldest son.
He was recruited into a county lines drug gang who needed fresh young
recruits to do the dirty business of actually selling the drugs.
The children, and they are children, are sent out all day and night
to sell drugs and make deliveries,
or driven back to their home town
to get more supplies.
They think that they're having a fantastic, exciting, glamorous time
because they're being paid £100 in cash a day.
They don't understand that they're working 24 hours a day
and they're not even getting the minimum wage.
Drug dealers use designer goods as payment for the youngsters
they recruit and also as a way of showing off
how successful they've been.
That's why the Proceeds of Crime auctions
are packed full of luxury brands after a police drugs operation.
I remember asking social services and the homes...
..to explain to me why my son had come home with a big bag full
of new clothes from a massive department store.
Nobody could explain it, but they didn't seem very worried about it.
And, for Laura's eldest, the fast life of a county lines runner
didn't end well.
He disappeared from his care home and no-one was able to find him.
When children go missing and they're being exploited,
they usually get driven away to another town.
I mean, my eldest son, we live in the London area.
My eldest son was found near Scotland.
He disappeared for three weeks.
They can be taken anywhere in the country...
..and I know that they live a very difficult life
while they're being exploited.
He wound up in jail due to his involvement with the drugs gang
that were driving him around the country,
but the horror didn't end there.
Laura's middle son had seen how his older brother was living
what seemed to be a glamorous life, with new clothes
and gang membership, so he, too, wanted to get involved.
It's very difficult to say how I feel as a parent
without feeling like I'll break down,
without feeling like a failure...
..because, when you adopt children,
you do it because you want to be a parent...
..but it's also because you want to give your children a great life.
You want to send them to school.
I know that both my sons, my middle son and my eldest son,
have seen extreme violence meted out to somebody who sold drugs,
who didn't pay their bill.
My oldest son has been threatened with death
by gangs, by rival gangs.
Um...
It's horrendous.
It's the stuff of violent horror films.
Meaning that officers in Cleveland or elsewhere who find youngsters
then have the task of trying to keep them away from the gang
who recruited them.
We've seen people making money illegally across the country
and, whilst that might be a bad thing, there is a good side.
Some of that money that criminals make gets taken off them,
but where does it all go?
Well, one chunk has just made its way to the southwest of the UK.
School holidays -
best days of your life,
but also sometimes the most boring
and the periods where youngsters
might be most likely to wander the streets looking for something,
and maybe something mischievous, to do,
as PCSO Georgia Coles knows only too well.
Traditionally, through the school holidays,
ASB, antisocial behaviour, tends to peak, tends to spike,
particularly with youth ASB,
and also in this area.
So, we've previously looked at statistics
and just because they're out more,
obviously they're not in school time,
it does spike in this particular area.
Georgia's based in Taunton, Somerset,
and her job as a PCSO certainly keeps her busy.
I've worked here for six and a half years now, so, sort of every school
holidays, there are different activities that go on in the area,
but there's not a whole lot for kids to do in and around here
that doesn't cost money, obviously.
Misbehaviour can sometimes end up building a wall between angry adults
and kids who don't realise how their behaviour's perceived.
All these young people were sort of saying to me that they didn't
have anything to do and that they'd like something to do,
so I took it upon myself, really, to set up this project,
just because working with young people I think is really important.
At the end of the day, they're going to be our future
and I wanted to sort of give them opportunities
that they wouldn't have.
Georgia wanted to run activities to keep kids entertained
and off the streets.
She realised her plans would cost a lot of money
and decided that local crooks should pay for it.
Georgia works with local group 1610 to help organise some incredible
outdoor activities for kids.
We've put on a series of outdoor-based activities for them,
all about finding a little bit of leadership,
building a little bit of resilience
and some self-confidence with them, as well.
This is now sort of the end of the programme.
We've invited a select few to put on a 1610 top
and actually come down here, at a local event,
and help us run our seven-metre-high climbing wall.
This gives them an opportunity to put in some skills
which maybe they didn't know they had, to be honest with you,
and it seems, at the moment, to be going very well,
it really does.
Georgia asked for criminal money to fund her plans
for days like these.
First of all, the funding was through the PCC,
Police Crime Commissioner.
I was nervous about the application,
didn't know whether I'd put all the relevant content in there,
but thankfully I was successful on the first attempt,
so that was really good.
Criminal cash meant Jack got to do things with his spare time
and now he's helping out.
They picked me up when I was 13, 14.
I was going through quite a hard time at home.
Georgia, the local PCSO, came to my school.
She receives funding to fund
the programme that we're on, basically.
We were doing things like paintballing.
There's adventure days in the woods,
forest skills, things like that.
It really entices families to come out for the day,
instead of staying in and having nothing to do.
If you haven't got any money or something like that,
this is a free day out for your kids to enjoy.
And it's not just the kids who feel the benefits.
The entire community is helped by this scheme and others like it.
Events like this are important because it actually demonstrates
to the young people that they can do stuff.
They really can. They can all do it.
But a lot of them just don't believe they have that skill set
to be able to do that.
And another good reason, it does get them away from the estate, as well,
which I think is important.
But Georgia's scheme is about more than just giving kids
something to do during the holidays.
My team leadership skills have probably improved massively,
probably leadership's improved massively. Confidence. Um...
I mean, they teach you how to tie ropes and how to start fires
and everything like that.
Obviously, once you're sensible enough, they reward you
with things like paintballing and wet and wild days, so, yeah,
it's very active, but it sinks in, as well,
because you enjoy it.
So, criminal money has helped turn Jack into a young success story.
Jack's a really good example.
He came into the project
and he managed to get a voluntary job with the project and eventually
that turned into a paid role.
Now, he's doing really well.
He's got a successful job, an apprenticeship that he started,
and he got all his GCSEs when he went there.
He also enrolled at college, so I'm really, really happy for him.
Feet! Feet, Callum!
Jack I've known for about three years now.
There was something in Jack that I liked.
He came and helped us run some of our 10K road races.
He's helped us run the wall before.
I've seen him grow up and now he's got an apprenticeship at Mercedes,
I'm led to believe, so Jack is a success story, most definitely.
It's really good to see that the money's going to something
that's really worthwhile.
I've seen a massive change in some of the kids
that have been on the project and the opportunities
that they've been given have really helped them.
So, it's really good to see that that funding is going
to something really positive and back into the community.
And money seized from criminals is also treating kids in Somerset
to a night out...
..if they can learn to put one of these together, that is.
This is the end of the programme now,
their overnight camp,
an opportunity for them to get away from the estate,
to come into a woodland, which, surprisingly,
though we live in rural Somerset,
it's surprising how many of them have never been into a woodland.
And with the tents pitched,
that's a new skill learned for some of the youngsters here...
..but the real success of the scheme is not just about practical skills.
I feel proud to sort of see where they've come.
Even over the six-week summer holidays,
you can see the difference from the first session that we had
to the session now.
You can definitely see a difference in attitude and character
and obviously the skills they've learned along the way.
I think it's important for people to do these because it gives them
an experience that they wouldn't get.
Such an amazing opportunity and I wouldn't stop it for anything.
I love it. I absolutely love it.
It helps me with my problems,
it helps me with my confidence.
Out here in the forest, there are no Louis Vuitton trainers
or Rolex watches -
they've all been sold off to help pay for schemes like this -
and it seems everyone's happy with this arrangement.
Genuinely, whoever came up with it, fair play,
because it's helped people like me
and so many other kids within this programme.
# Building up new trap lines
# Gotta get them stacks in... #
Earlier on, we saw how a rapper
turned drug dealer King Krus
was arrested at his home and found with £30,000 worth of drugs.
He was fond of making videos like these, boasting how he bought
the most expensive clothes and shoes...
# Gucci, oh
# You getting money well... #
..but when police arrested him,
they went through his property for any signs of wealth.
They found a huge stash of designer gear,
including these two Versace belts.
Using their Proceeds of Crime powers,
police plan to sell them off to the highest bidder.
Designer clothes are worn like badges of success,
but, thanks to Proceeds of Crime powers,
King Krus has been stripped of all his bling.
Police are selling off his gear bit by bit
and today it's his belts.
What will the crowd look to pay for these super high fashion items?
The leather belt with the right brand can always do very well.
It depends on the brand itself.
Some brands, like whether it's Versace, Zanotti or Louis Vuitton,
can do excessively well,
and sometimes the Louis Vuitton belts, such is their popularity
worldwide, can even exceed the retail.
So, now that their belts are so popular,
the Hermes belts, the Louis Vuitton belts,
you now see the manufacturers like Ralph Lauren have introduced
T-shirts that are shorter at the front and longer at the back
so that people can show off the belt, so more and more T-shirts
and that then trickles down to the high street where the Topshops
and the Topman then produce T-shirts
that are cut in a particular way to reveal the belt.
So, it's interesting to see where the demand is.
It has a ripple effect across the whole supply chain,
but there's no bigger statement to walk into a room
and have a belt that's worth £700 or £1,000,
and that's what people are going for. They're not subtle items.
It's the gold Rolex. It's the timepiece.
It's that big statement
and that's what those belts are trying to do.
Lot number four, the Versace belt.
Gold-lined head buckle.
£220.
£220 for one belt.
You're only £25 from a Versace belt, £25 away.
25 here.
Looking 50.
Do I have 25?
25 in the hall now.
50 at the back.
Bid of £50 against you.
At £50 here. 60?
It's at £50 now. I've got £60 here.
70 against you.
Took it online, that's £70 now.
Shakes the head. It's at 70.
If you're bidding, let me know.
At £70, going once, twice.
Third and last.
Sold online for £70 for the Versace.
That's one of King Krus's blingy Versace belts sold.
Let's see what the other one goes for.
Lot number 34 now, Versace
matte black lion head buckle.
Who'll give me £25 for the Versace?
Worth 25, surely?
25 now.
Can I have 50?
25 here.
35 at the back.
45? 45.
£45.
At £45, selling once.
55 here.
At 55. 65 online.
At 65.
75 again. Bid of 75.
At £75.
At £75, I'm selling once,
twice,
third and last. Well done, sir.
What's your number? 2582.
So, the dealer who sold drugs to buy belts and bling has now had some
of his gear sold off and police will continue to use Proceeds
of Crime powers to sell off his shoes and jackets
until he has no expensive clothes left.
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.