Drug dealer gets cash offer
A CANNABIS dealer who peddled drugs across Swindon has been ordered to pay more than ВЈ1,000 of his ill-gotten gains - or spend a further 45 days behind bars.
Rippon Raj was caught dealing the drug despite being on bail for similar matters a few weeks earlier.
And when the 33-year-old was arrested on the second occasion he verbally racially abused the police officer detaining him.
Now Raj, who was jailed for 21 months in February, must agree to give up the cash seized in the raid or serve the extra time.
However the amount taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act was less than half the benefit he was deemed to have made from his crime.
Judge Euan Ambrose, at Swindon crown court, ruled that he benefited from his offending to the tune of ВЈ2,655.
He ordered Raj to pay ВЈ1,025 because they were the only realisable assets he had.
However, should he come into money in the future it would be possible for the authorities to pursue him for the remaining ВЈ1,630.
That has come too late for Jim Burge, the owner of the Ford Fiesta, who told the BBC he would probably have to scrap the car because his insurance is
