POLICE yesterday confiscated more than £2.4million from a drug dealing Mr Big -- the largest amount of crime cash ever seized in Lancashire.

A judge told Ayub Khansia to pay back the profits he made from crime -- or face more years in jail on top of the 12 year sentence he was given for drug trafficking earlier this year.

Police have rightly highlighted the case to show they have the power to seize assets -- and put fear into the criminals who profit from their unlawful activities.

And the hope by senior officers is that much of the money seized from Khansia will be handed back to Lancashire Constabulary to help in its fight against crime.

We hope so, too.

Because the £2.4million made by Khansia only begins to tell the story of the level of crime involved here. Police believe thousands of burglaries and muggings have been carried out across East Lancashire by addicts desperate to find the cash needed to buy Khansia's drugs.

Thousands of people in the region have become victims of crime simply to fund the habits of users. And those users' ill-gotten gains were in turn passed on to Khansia in exchange for drugs.

After the case, Det Insp Ian Critchley, of Blackburn police, said: "The money ultimately comes from heroin users, who ultimately have to commit crimes of burglary, robbery, shoplifting and muggings to pay for these drugs which ultimately gets into the pockets of the Khansia family. We are delighted with the outcome that this has been the most significant seizure of assets that there has ever been in Lancashire."

Let us hope those assets can now be put to good use and help to work at the bottom end of the drugs pyramid, as well as the top.