Nine held over mortgage fraud

[JohnCenaFan28]

Nine people are being held in custody in connection with a suspected £40 million mortgage fraud involving more than 500 properties.

The eight men and one woman - aged between 29 and 73 - were arrested following dawn raids on six residential addresses in Sussex and north London, City of London Police said.

They were being questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.

Police said the probe surrounded mortgages taken out on properties in the south of England between 2005 and 2007.

The inquiry centred on Eastbourne Financial Services Limited (EFS), a mortgage broker based in East Sussex that is now in liquidation, said a police spokesman.

This morning's swoop involved more than 50 officers from the force's economic crime department, assisted by colleagues from Sussex Police.

Three business premises were also targeted as part of the raid, police said.

Detective Superintendent Bob Wishart, of City of London Police, said: "The scale of today's operation shows City of London Police's commitment to investigate frauds and bring those behind them to justice.

"We know that fraud has the potential to impact on local communities and we are determined not only to work with colleagues across the UK to investigate such frauds, but to liaise with other agencies to mitigate that impact on innocent people affected by the criminal greed of others.

"We have worked closely with the local police in Sussex and with the owners of the properties involved to minimise the impact of our investigation on local communities and on tenants."

-Nova

[DUKE NUKEM]

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