[A] DRUGS gang kingpin has been ordered by a Carlisle judge to pay back some of the cash he made from his illegal exploits.
Ryan Doforo, 33, was jailed for more than 14 years at the city’s crown court in the summer of 2017. Doforo headed a Merseyside criminal gang which supplied vast amounts of cocaine and heroin into north Cumbria, and which police estimated had generated £380,000.
But Cumbria police smashed the drugs ring. Seven men, including Liverpool-based Doforo, were handed prison terms totalling almost 46 years.
Financial investigators set about clawing back illegally-obtained cash. And at Carlisle Crown Court, Doforo’s benefit figure from his illegal activity was assessed as a sizeable £406,125.60.
He was ordered to hand over available assets of almost £20,000 within three months – or face a year’s jail in default.
Speaking after the court hearing, Detective Constable Duncan Watson said: “Bringing criminals before the court for their crimes is not the end of the case.
“From the start, their finances are being examined to establish how much they have benefited from their criminal activity with the aim to recover their realisable assets.
“The proceeds of crime legislation provides us with the ability to hurt criminals where it matters the most – in their pocket.”
