A MAN who was jailed for six years for selling fraudulent digital TV boxes has been ordered to pay back £23,390.

Imran Khansia, 30, of Livingstone Road, Blackburn, will be forced to pay the cash after a proceeds of crime hearing.

He was jailed for six years in May last year after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud Virgin Media.

Khansia was one of four men who sold illegally mod-ified digital set-top-boxes enabling customers to access digital TV subscription channels for free.

He was arrested in April 2008 after officers raided a number of addresses in Blackburn and Preston.

Around 200 set-top boxes were seized following the raids along with a substantial amount of cash, computers and financial documents.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing held before Blackburn magistrates ordered Khansia forfeit the cash, which was seized at the time of his arrest.

Financial investigator Sergeant Andy Ellis said: “Decent law abiding people should not have to tolerate criminals enjoying a standard of living that they are not entitled to. More often than not, that lifestyle has been achieved at someone else’s expense.

“We will continue to target those who seek to profit through crime. It is important that people tell us about the individuals that they know are committing crime and living off the proceeds.

“If we are provided with good intelligence then we will then target those individuals who are enjoying a lifestyle that they are not entitled to.“ Anyone with information about people supplying or using illicit equipment to receive Virgin Media TV channels can call a confidential hotline 0800 096 7800.