"the owners of the boxes had to prove the contents inside belonged to them and, in the case of money, were legitimate income."
"The box holders included many Indian and Jewish families who were storing heirlooms and wedding jewellery because they feared burglars would steal them if they were kept at home.
For many of them, it took months to persuade the police to release their possessions."
oh wow...
I remember thinking at the time how much that whole operation stank of state enforced theft. None of the judges near the station where the raid was planned would issue the seizure warrants because they felt the grounds for searching the boxes was weak so the police had to get a "friendly" judge from miles away to help them out. Also confiscating possessions on the basis that you can't prove ownership is a blatant way of stealing wealth from ordinary citizens. I doubt that British museum could prove ownership of anything they possess but yet they don't get raided at dawn by the police.
Just goes to show that the rule of law means sweet fuck all if the authorities are desperate to get your wealth.
