U.K. Targets London Properties With Suspected Paramilitary Links

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K.’s National Crime Agency said it obtained a court order requiring a Northern Irish woman to prove that she didn’t fund the purchase of six properties with the money linked to paramilitary activity and cigarette smuggling.

On Tuesday, the NCA served the high court’s so-called unexplained wealth order for the properties -- worth an estimated 3.2 million pounds ($3.9 million) -- the agency’s third such action in as many months, according to a statement on Wednesday. Four of the properties are in London and two in Northern Ireland, the agency said. It didn’t identify the woman.

The unexplained wealth orders are becoming a high-profile tool for the NCA to target people it suspects of serious organized crime or being the beneficiary of wealth via political connections. They require a person to reveal the source of the funds used to purchase the assets, rather than have the government prove that the owner raised the money from criminal sources.

To contact the reporter on this story: Franz Wild in London at fwild@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser

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