Police have vowed to track down the assets criminals “hide” using family and associates after members of a Bradford drugs gang, which made nearly £300,000, were found to have combined assets totalling less than £5,000.

Mohammed Asim Khan, known as Beastie, was jailed for eight years in October last year for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and taking part in a revenge attack on a shooting victim at a car wash.

The judge said then that Khan was at the head of a “commercial, wide-ranging, operation”.

At a Proceeds of Crime Application hearing at Bradford Crown Court , Judge Jonathan Rose ruled that Khan, 28, then of Park Hill Drive, Allerton , Bradford, made £33,500 from his criminality. His available assets, already in the hands of the police, were £1,212.

Khan’s wife, Shazia Ali, 28, was sentenced in October to a 12-month community order with 80 hours’ unpaid work for mortgage fraud.

The judge said then that Ali, the mother of two young children, turned to criminality under her husband’s influence.

Her benefit from wrong-doing was set at £254,000 and her available assets at £3,747.

Judge Rose give her six months to repay the money or face a possible three months in jail.

Mohammed Khalid Hussain, 27, then of Jasmin Terrace, Girlington , Bradford, was locked up for four and a half years for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

His benefit was fixed at £2,900 and he was ordered to pay back the £1 he had in available assets.

Khan and Hussain were involved with others in a commercial, wide-ranging drug dealing operation, mainly in the Manningham area.

Khan was convicted of causing Qaiser Rafique actual bodily harm at the Doctor Sponge Car Wash in Toller Lane, Bradford, in September, 2010.

After the confiscation hearing, a police spokesman said : “One of the ways that criminals avoid having assets traced or confiscated is by hiding money through associates or family members. We want to know who these people are and how they are concealing their ill-gotten gains.

“We would encourage anyone who thinks they know someone living beyond their means to contact us through the ‘Why Should They’ campaign, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

“Hundreds of thousands of pounds have already been taken out of the hands of criminals in the Bradford district and reinvested in the fight against crime or in community initiatives.

“Our message is plain and simple, if people engage themselves in offences centred on acquiring assets the Bradford District Proceeds of Crime Teams will proactively clamp down upon them.”