Police officers tackling gangster crime will soon be issued with vans so they can empty the criminals' homes of their expensive items, it has been reported.
Expensive cars, plasma screen televisions and home entertainment systems up to the value of £100,000 will be allowed to be taken away by the officers in a van if they believe that the owners have been involved in criminal activity, the People reports.
The move marks a departure from the previous rules which said that only cash sums which were over £1,000 could be confiscated by the police.
A government spokesman told the newspaper: "If someone is on benefits and has £10,000 in a shoebox you know they haven't come by it legally.
"Now police will seize all their expensive bling and any other property that seems suspicious."
The plans form part of a crime crackdown being put together by the prime minister, Chancellor Gordon Brown and John Reid, the home secretary.
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