Shoppers looking for bargains on eBay could find themselves to be the proud owners of “dirty money” goods, thanks to a new initiative being trialled by Leicestershire Police.

In the past year, goods worth over £3 million have been confiscated from criminals, and now the police are using eBay to try and make some of this money back, which will then be split between their force and the government.

Unfortunately, there’s not much in the way of fashion up there yet – no fur coats or diamond-studded heels.  They are however doing a roaring trade in plasma TVs, computers and stereo equipment.

There’s also quite a lot of bling up for grabs, although it’s not had a lot of interest as yet – maybe bidders are scared of the consequences of coming face-to-face with the owner?  Or maybe there’s just not much of a market for knuckle-duster “Mum” rings.

I’m still going to be keeping an eye on the auctions though – there’s bound to have been a gangster’s wife out there somewhere who had a penchant for designer handbags…