CRIME is big business on Merseyside. It is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year and, at a time when long-standing legitimate companies are going to the wall as a consequence of the global credit crunch, a special police team are making sure those who deal in the illegal markets go out of business, too.

Seven years ago, the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) was introduced to English law to give the police the power to dismantle criminal enterprises.

For too long, crooks saw going to prison as an occupational hazard, knowing they could serve five, 10, even 15 years inside and then come out to live off the trappings of their criminal career.

But now, as police use the legislation more effectively, the goal posts have been moved.

Now, being convicted of a “criminal lifestyle” offence – anything that is done for cash – opens up the books for the police to sift through and go after the “benefit” gained from crime.

That benefit is then calculated by the courts, who order the crook to pay back the worth of whatever the police can find – the likes of houses in the sun, exclusive cars and expensive jewellery.

And of that money, a percentage goes back into local police coffers, putting more officers on the streets. The rest goes to the courts, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Government.

Merseyside Police's Criminal Assets Team are one of the leaders in their field. A raft of Home Office awards have been bestowed on them and they are now taking more and more cash off criminals every year.

They can seize any cash sum of £1,000 and over if they suspect it has come from crime or is set to be used for crime in the future.

They then go to a magistrate for permission to keep it while inquiries are carried out and the owner has 90 days to prove the money is legitimate.

If they can prove it came from a legal source – a win on the horses or from the sale of a car, for instance – officers hand it back, together with the interest it has accumulated in the police bank account.

Five years ago, they seized £600,000 in hard cash alone from the criminal fraternity. Last year, that figure was just shy of £3m.

Around 70% of their cash seizures go uncontested at court, with major league criminals simply writing them off as unfortunate losses.

When police burst into an address linked to Fazakerley gangster David Hibbs-Turner, they found £163,000 wrapped in plastic supermarket shopping bags under his stairs.

When the money went to court the next day, Hibbs-Turner didn’t even turn up, showing, police say, the huge amounts he was making at his peak before he was jailed for life for murder and extortion last year.

In one of their biggest seizures, police found £586,000 stuffed into kitchen cupboards in the Tuebrook home of drug dealer Thomas Baker. He was ordered to forfeit it by the courts after being given 14 years behind bars.

And kingpin Christopher Pimblett ran his sophisticated drug trafficking empire from his lavish St Helens home before he was jailed.

Around £400,000 was found by police in safes buried in the garden of Philip Brown, Pimblett’s step-father.

Det Sgt Mike Garvey, from the investigation team, said: “We can find hundreds of thousands belonging to organised criminals or we can take £1,500 from a low- level street dealer knocking out drugs on the Grizedale estate [in Everton]. We probably do more work in the lower end stuff.

“Recently at court, we made an application for £39,000 we found and the guy, who is suspected of involvement in drug trafficking, didn’t even turn up to contest it, which is not uncommon.