Luton firearms dealers’ houses to be auctioned to help repay £835,000 made through crime

Houses owned by two Luton firearms dealers are set to be auctioned to repay some of the cash they made illegally.

Muzaffer Ali, 45, and Khalid Hussain, 54, were jailed in August 2017 after an investigation found they were key members of an organised crime group importing and selling firearms. AIi was sentenced to life imprisonment and Hussain jailed for 19 years.

An investigation by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) discovered they had earned a combined sum of £835,000 from their criminal activities – and a court order was granted forcing them to repay it.

ERSOU’s Criminal Finance Team recovered an outstanding £448,601.60 – and are now set to sell off their homes to raise the outstanding debt.

They found Ali owned two properties in Bletchley and another in Luton, with Hussain having a stake in a separate Luton house. The pair also jointly owned another property in Luton.

Detective Sergeant James Morgan, from ERSOU, said: “Significant time has passed since this pair were convicted; however, we will leave no stone unturned in our enquiries to make sure any ill-gotten gains are repaid, including stripping offenders of their belongings and real estate.”

Detective Chief Inspector James Panter, from Bedfordshire Police, said: “Through initiatives such as Operation Costello we have officers dedicated to disrupting the activities of drug dealers, gang members and the ‘professional enablers’ who assist organised crime groups by supplying them with materials for criminal use or by letting them use premises for illegal activity.

“We’ll also continue to work with our partners to ensure offenders are stripped of items funded by criminal means.”