Seized: Audi will now be used as police car. Pic: © STV
A top of the range vehicle seized from a criminal gang has begun a new life as a police car.
The £40,000 Audi 4x4 was taken during an operation in the north of Glasgow.
It has now been emblazoned with Strathclyde Police livery, and will be used by the force's specialist gangs taskforce.
Police plan to eventually sell the vehicle and use the proceeds in policing and community projects.
Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson said the seizure was a warning to gangsters in Glasgow.
He said: "Based on intelligence this car was used by a number of organised criminals in Glasgow and it was used as what you would probably call a pool car, if you needed a car you would use it.
"The reason for that is because it is a valuable car, it looks like a big sports car and they get a bit of prestige about it.
"What we've done is that we've arrested a number of people in the car and seized it and to date we've been unable to find any legitimate owner for the car so under the Civic Government Scotland Act we can seize it.
"We want to sent out two messages - the first is to the people that live in Glasgow to say we are seizing these on a daily basis, and this is a really visible example of what we are going to do and we want to send the message to serious organised criminals that we are seizing your assets now, we will continue to seize your assets and if you do have cars like this and they are not legitimate, then they are going to be ours."
IN DETAIL
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill added: "This is a wonderful initiative, we want to not only take on serious organised crime but we want to take them down and strip them of their assets and this is living proof that it is working."
