GWENT Police seized £1.6million in cash, vehicles, cars and property from criminals last year, new figures show.

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), police seized the cash and property from criminals who had obtained it through their illegal exploits.

Between April 2010 and March 2011, Gwent Police seized £1,636,711.10.

This figure is likely to go up in the coming months as more cases are settled from the past 12 months.

Money seized under the act is given to the Home Office, which divides the total up between all the police forces in England and Wales.

Based on the above figure, Gwent Police is set to get £380,488.322 from the Home Office Incentivisation Scheme.

This figure is up from last year, when Gwent Police seized £1,426,550 and was given £291,316 by the Home Office.

The money the force gets from this scheme is used for a number of projects.

The bulk of the haul will help pay for Operation Prudent, which was launched in 2009 and targets criminals dealing Class A drugs.

It will also pay for another financial investigator in the Financial Crime Unit, and will help fund the High Tech Crime Unit and Offender Management Unit.

Head of CID Chief Supt Ray Wise said: “Criminals benefit from the misery of other people and some flaunt the proceeds of their crimes.

“These people deserve to have their ill-gotten gains taken away, which is exactly what we are doing. We have found that a prison sentence can be viewed as an occupational hazard by some criminals.

“However, losing cash, cars, luxury homes and other assets under a court order is likely to have a much greater impact.”

The POCA gives police and other agencies the power to strip cash and assets from anyone who has benefited financially from crime.

A high-profile Gwent case saw Ebbw Vale pimp Wayne Baker relieved of £135,874.74 after making £529,275 prostituting young girls.

Baker, 61, of Saron Place, was jailed for 11 years in February 2010 after pleading guilty to 22 sexual offences.

Anyone wishing to pass on information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.