Drug boss ordered to hand over £3.5m

Aram Sheibani was regularly pictured in luxury cars and yachts before he was jailed

A former global drug ring boss who lived a "lavish" lifestyle has been ordered to pay £3.5m or face a further decade in jail.

Aram Sheibani, of Trafford in Greater Manchester, was jailed for 37 years in 2021 for fraud and drug offences.

He was ordered to pay back the money after Greater Manchester Police continued to investigate his finances.

Det Supt Andy Buckthorpe said the 43-year-old was "fuelled by greed and dishonesty".

The Iranian refugee has three months to comply with the confiscation order sought by the force's Economic Crime Unit.

Sheibani had amassed a £5m property empire, along with £1.2m in cash and £1.5m stored in cryptocurrency, all of which were seized by police before he was jailed in 2021.

Sheibani had cash, drugs and encrypted phones stored across several properties

Det Supt Buckthorpe said an "intricate" financial investigation had followed the "incredibly complex" criminal case, which extended "overseas and into the world of cryptocurrency".

Sheibani was "ignorant to the damage and destruction" the trade did, he said.

Det Supt Buckthorpe added: "Our investigations don't end once you're behind bars.

"Our financial investigators will come for every penny you have gained at the expense of innocent people."

Funds confiscated from the order are set to be used in the local community to make it "safer for local people and more hostile for criminals such as Sheibani to operate", Det Supt Buckthorpe said.