POLICE have been granted permission to keep almost £3,000 which they seized from a suspect’s car.
Lancashire Police officers stopped Eamonn Mizele’s Audi as he drove through the outskirts of Blackpool.
Magistrates in the resort heard how Mizele told police the money, totalling £2,820, was his casino winnings.
But checks at casinos where Mizele was known revealed he had not had the kind of luck he was claiming.
In fact he had lost so much money he had banned himself from going into casinos, the court was told.
Magistrates heard how police believed the money was the result of illicit drug dealing and applied to the courts to keep the cash.
Mizele of Hawkshead Road, Southport, did not attend the Proceeds of Crime hearing which took place at Blackpool Magistrates’ Court.
The bench agreed the seized cash could now be retained by police.
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