THE Crown has secured the forfeiture of nearly £140,000 in cash found in what it said was a Glasgow 'safe house' of a drugs gang.

The money was found in a blue holdall found under the stairs in the home of David Marshall during a search which also discovered drugs and drug-related paraphernalia.

Mr Marshall did not contest the forfeiture. He was named in the annual report of the Civil Recovery Unit as allowing his home to be used as a safe house for both drugs and cash.

The unit, in its report, said: "The use of safe houses is a well-recognised tactic employed by drug-dealing gangs - the forfeiture of cash found in Marshall's home represents a significant disruption of the activities of the serious organised crime group that employed him."

The CRU in 2013-14 also secured the forfeiture of more than £48,000 found during a March 2011 search of the home of Kinross used car dealer Alexander McTavish, who had been previously jailed for fraud and contraventions of the Trades Descriptions Act and Enterprise Act.

The unit said the money "represented accumulated takings from Mr McTavish's unlawful business activities". The case settled out of court.