Swindon man ordered to hand over more of his ill-gotten gains

A man from Swindon who was previously jailed for drugs offences has been made to pay back an additional £47,000 of his illicit funds.

In 2013 Fatos Hamzaraj was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role as head of an organised crime group (OCG) involved in the supply of cocaine.

At the time of sentencing Wiltshire Police - who had investigated the OCG - found Hamzaraj to have benefitted from his criminality to the value of £2.4 million.

But the judge determined that he had only around £9,000 available to him to be confiscated under section 22 of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).  

Having served his sentence, Hamzaraj was released in 2017 under licence but continued his illegal activities and following a further investigation by Wiltshire Police, was sentenced in July 2022 to three years and nine months for conspiracy to produce class B drugs (cannabis).  

Wiltshire Police began confiscation proceedings, but Hamzaraj claimed £39,000 sitting in his bank account was his legitimate income and contested the application to confiscate this money.   

Due to the complexities around Hamzaraj’s available assets, in January 2024 a team of specialist officers from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) were called upon to assist in the financial investigation.  

Following a thorough enquiry, SWROCU’s Asset Confiscation and Enforcement (ACE) team presented the case that the £39,300 plus £7,700 that had been seized from Hamzaraj at the time of his arrest should be taken from him and added to his previous £9,000 confiscation order.   

On Monday 2 June, at Swindon Crown Court, the Judge found in favour of the prosecution team and the assets in their entirety were ordered to be made available to uplift the confiscation order by £47,000 to £56,000.  

Amanda Alldridge from SWROCU’s ACE team said: “Hamzaraj attempted to hide his assets from law enforcement but, along with our colleagues at Wiltshire Police and the CPS, we were successful in proving this significant sum of money be identified, frozen and recovered.   

"My team is committed to stopping those involved in organised criminality from benefitting financially and will seek to strip criminals of their ill-gotten gains no matter how long ago their crimes were committed.”  

Financial Investigations Manager Lou Martin from Wiltshire Police said: “This is a great example of how collaboration between the regional and local teams can make a significant difference in the fight to remove criminal finances from those who have acted unlawfully. We will continue to pursue proceeds of crime until those debts are repaid.”  

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor, CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “Despite his attempts to evade paying more of his criminal benefit and concealing his wealth, we were able to work closely and effectively with financial investigators in SWROCU to identify Hamzaraj’s hidden assets and bring him back before the courts to have his Confiscation Order increased.   

“Organised crime and illegal drugs bring misery and harm to communities across the country, and we will continue to work tirelessly with law enforcement partners to help dismantle these networks and prevent them from enjoying the benefits of their criminality.”