Specialist Crime |
Specialist Crime Directorate
Latest news: Operation Rize investigation continuesOperation Rize - Safety deposit centre raidsIn June 2008, officers from the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Command [SCD6] arrested three people on suspicion of money laundering, and began the huge task of searching nearly 7000 safety deposit boxes at three addresses under a search warrant. Operation Rize used powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to ensure that crime does not pay and that there should be no place for criminals to hide their ill-gotten gains. Update 22.08.08 The significant restoration commitment arising from Operation Rize continues. Plans are at an advanced stage to restore the contents of large numbers of boxes within the coming weeks as part of a further bulk restoration event. In excess of nine hundred boxes have now been restored to owners. This figure represents a significant proportion of innocently held boxes, however we intend to keep up the momentum in the restoration process. If you are a safety deposit box holder affected by Operation Rize and your box contains jewellery and/or items other than cash, it is likely you will be contacted within the coming weeks to arrange restoration by appointment. If significant amounts of cash have been placed into boxes, matters take longer to resolve, as Police must be satisfied as to the origins of the cash before restoration can take place. That said, significant amounts of cash have already been restored where owners have been able to prove provenance of the funds. As has always been the case, if you have urgent requirement for the return of the contents of your box, such as impending travel, you should contact the call centre on 0207 230 9741 or email SCD6mailbox-.OperationRize2@met.pnn.police.uk and the team will make every effort to deal with your request. Our aim has always been to restore property as quickly as possible where it is innocently held. We have been experiencing a high volume of calls, which has increased recently due to a letter sent out by the owners of the safe depository to its customers asking them to renew its custom. As a result you may be experiencing difficulties in contacting the call centre. Please bear with us, we will get to you as soon as possible. We ask that you please read the Frequently Asked Questions ( http://www.met.police.uk/scd/operations/rize_faq.htm) before calling the call centre and that if you have already registered your interest with the call centre that you wait to be contacted by our dedicated team of officers. Once again, the Operation Rize team thank you for your patience whilst they prepare cases for restoration. We realise the disruption this has caused and every effort is being made to minimise the impact by dealing with restoration as quickly as possible. The support of the public has been key to the success of the operation: Illicit criminal property has been recovered from the three Safe Depositories. This includes guns, ammunition, paedophilic material, quantities of passports, class A drugs and evidence of human smuglling. A number of arrests have already been made and others are expected to follow shortly. We will keep you updated where possible. Contact UsPlease read the update and the Frequently Asked Questions above before emailing us. email: SCD6mailbox-.OperationRize2@met.pnn.police.uk |