The proceeds of crime will be seized

The Proceeds of Crime Act allows police forces and the courts to confiscate illegal profits made by criminals and drug dealers.

Justice Minister Jim Wallace said the new act brought "a formidable" array of new powers to investigate, trace and recover the proceeds of crime.

"The new measures will strengthen the arm of the law against people who profit from the misery of others," he said.

Role models

"With new powers of criminal confiscation, civil recovery and even taxation, we will be able to go for these people where it hurts most - in the pocket.

"We will deprive them of the cash to finance new criminal operations."

He said criminals were set to lose their cars, houses and money, which would prevent them becoming dangerous role models for young people in their local communities.

The act introduces three strong new powers of investigation: customer information orders; account monitoring orders and disclosure orders.

These allow investigators to access detailed information about the financial dealings of suspected criminals, even if they have not been convicted.

Jim Wallace: "Strengthen the law"

The act also allows the Lord Advocate Colin Boyd and Scottish ministers to access information from more people about suspect activities such as social security fraud, offences involving motor vehicles and activities which might be used for money-laundering.

Mr Wallace said it was likely the executive would seek to add to the list of offences indicative of a criminal lifestyle.

Offences currently seen as indicative of a criminal lifestyle in Scotland already specified in the act include money laundering, people and arms trafficking, counterfeiting and living on the earnings of prostitution.

A Criminal Confiscation Unit and Civil Recovery Unit within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will work hand-in-hand to identify and seize cash and other assets believed to be the proceeds of crime, even where there is no criminal conviction.

Fast cars

Andrew Horn, operations manager with drugs charity Turning Point Scotland, has hailed the move as a way to get money from dealers and reinvest it in drugs programmes.

"There probably is an image of people coming from estates and driving fast cars and nobody doing anything about it," he said.

"This way people will have to explain how they got that income and how they got that fast car and I think that will certainly be a disincentive for new young people from going into dealing."

But some lawyers have raised opposition to the scheme.

John Scott of the Scottish Human Rights Centre said: "It gives the police and the authorities a lot more power.