TWO Blackburn men have been stripped of £27,000 in criminal cash and told to pay more than £16,000 in costs.

Irfan Mohammed, 29, of Primrose Drive, and Suhail Sarfaraz Vohra, 29, of Cranshaw Drive, both Blackburn, were ordered to forfeit the cash and pay the costs despite their previous acquittal for offences of money laundering in July 2007.

The defendants claimed that the money was from their exclusive car hire business and was not the proceeds of crime.

However, under civil legislation, the judge was not satisfied with the explanation given and decided that the money was, on the balance of probabilities, likely to be derived from criminal conduct.

Police investigations began in November 2004 when Vohra was arrested on suspicion of possession of controlled drugs after a warrant was executed at his home address.

During the search, police seized drugs and a large quantity of used bank notes found to be contaminated to a significant degree with controlled drugs.

Vohra stated that the money recovered from the property was his and was legitimate from his business.

A second warrant was executed in September 2005 at the home addresses of Vohra and Mohammed and at their businesses premises.

Again, the money was found to be contaminated with drugs.

A money-laundering investigation was started in relation to the activities of One Stop Car Hire Ltd. During the search carried out at Harrison Street, Blackburn, Irfan Mohammed was arrested for obtaining property by deception and Vohra was also arrested for money laundering.

But in July 2007, both defendants were acquitted of money laundering by Preston Crown Court after the judge in the matter directed the jury to find the defendants not guilty.

Financial investigator Sgt Kathryn Cussans said: “Proceeds of Crime legislation is a powerful policing tool and taken very seriously by Lancashire Police.

“The public want to know that, whenever possible, offenders are going to be taken to court and deprived of any profit that they have made from their criminal activities.”