Money from drug dealing is being used to benefit crime-hit communities

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire, West Dunbartonshire and North Ayrshire each have two wards which will benefit from the funding.

The councils were selected after figures showed they had violet crime rates above the national average.

The cash, seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act, will fund youth initiatives, mobile CCTV vans, and drug campaigns.

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said: "We are sending a clear message to criminals - in Scotland crime doesn't pay but criminals do.

"And we will ensure that the people living in our most vulnerable communities see these criminals and dealers empty their pockets back into local resources.

These funds will allow us to take an activity which works and has already had significant positive effects on young people's lives Ian Reid Scottish Sports Futures

"These so-called Mr Bigs owe a debt to those they have preyed upon."

The Scottish Executive said local community partnerships had been asked to submit firm proposals on how best to invest the money.

In the meantime, some cash will be used to run local Drug Dealers Don't Care campaigns and to extend the Twilight Basketball initiative - backed by the country's only professional team, the Scottish Rocks.

Ian Reid, of Scottish Sports Futures, said it was "beautifully poetic" that criminals' cash was paying for the expansion of Twilight Basketball.

"These funds will allow us to take an activity which works and has already had significant positive effects on young people's lives into those areas of Scotland worst affected by criminal activity," he added.

Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) director Graeme Pearson said they would continue to use the "full weight" of the Proceeds of Crime Act to identify and eradicate the profit from serious organised crime.