A74 police stop was key to £90m fraud case

A FRAUDSTER has lost his £90 million property empire after a bust on the A74 near Ecclefechan sparked a huge police and HMRC probe.

Arif Patel, who now lives in Dubai, was convicted in 2023 of a fraud of more than £150 million involving countfeit clothing.

And now, two years on, Chester Crown Court has slapped a confiscation order on him for £90 million.

A key part of the prosecution’s original case came from when a member of Patel’s gang was stopped by police on the A74 in August 2005, driving a van full of counterfeit clothes, including Calvin Klein, Walt Disney, Nike, Prada, Emporio Armani, Lacoste and Levi Strauss labels.

He was been described as ‘the mastermind of one of the UK’s biggest ever carousel tax frauds’, with the proceeds of his crimes funding a property empire in Preston, London, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The court has ordered that will now have to be sold, with the money returned to fund UK public services.

Sock manufacturer Arif Patel, 57, originally of Preston, will also see his Ferrari 575 Superamerica sold at auction.

Richard Las, of HMRC’s fraud investigation service, said: “Arif Patel lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the law-abiding majority, but he will now lose the property empire he amassed from the proceeds of crime.

“Our work never stops at conviction. For the last two years we’ve worked with police and CPS partners to secure one of the biggest criminal confiscations we’ve ever recovered. Tens of millions of pounds of stolen money will now go back to directly fund public services.”