A major cannabis dealer who posed as a respectable businessman has been ordered to pay back £2.2 million - or face more TEN more years in jail.
Nirmal Saund, 52, lived a playboy lifestyle on the back of a £35 million drugs empire, which also involved his nephew. He was jailed for 10 years and six months last February after being sentenced for conspiracy to produce drugs.
Now he is one of the latest criminals to targeted by West Midlands Police's Regional Organised Crime Unit. It pursued court action to confiscate the ‘dirty money’ through the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
And at a hearing last month Saund, of Skip Lane, Walsall, was ordered to hand back £2.2 million within three months - or face a further 10 years behind bars.
His nephew Darryl Saund, 32, of Foxcote Drive, Shirley, who was sentenced to nine years for his role in the operation, was told to pay back £114,115 at an earlier hearing.
The pair were brought to justice after detectives staked out some of their cannabis factories and dismantled their network of fake names, passports and utility bills.
Police also unearthed bank accounts used to stash drugs cash after officers followed some of their Vietnamese ‘gardeners’ on bank runs and tracked the cartel members down to their base in Baltimore Road, Handsworth Wood.
Detectives said they splashed some of their cash on luxury cars, expensive homes and a high-end lifestyle.
West Midlands Police also took action against Mann Singh Landa - who stole money from gaming machines - and was told he must return £42,000 or be jailed for a further two years.
The 42 year-old, of Yardley Green Road, Birmingham, was sentenced to 20 months in January for theft of £17,858 from Pickwick Cricket Club in Moseley where he was a steward which must be paid back.
