Crime No Longer Pays for Small-time Crooks: Powers to Seize Smaller Cash Sums Come Into Force Today Home Office Press Release 31 July 2006 Small-time criminals involved in money laundering, drug dealing and other types of criminal activity now stand to have smaller sums of illicit cash sums seized by law enforcement agencies. From today the threshold for seizing suspect sums of money under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) has been lowered from £5,000 to £1,000. Cash search and seizure powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) allow police and customs officers to seize money suspected to be the profit of crime or intended for use in crime.