Crime gold sold at auction

More than €730,000 worth of gold smuggled into Britain by criminals has been sold at a Belfast auction.

The precious metal was seized during a probe by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into a £9m (€12.5m) smuggling plot that saw the gang’s leader, Chaudry Ali of Middlesex, jailed for nine years in 2012.

He was ordered to pay back £4.3m of his criminal profits or serve an extra 10 years in prison when he appeared at Kingston Crown Court a year ago.