12 August 2025
His Majesty’s Attorney General Mark Temple KC has recently assisted the Crown Prosecution
Service by sharing more than £397,000 in confiscated funds with the United Kingdom.
From 2010 to 2014, Eitan Benzur, a British citizen, conspired with others to supply cannabis.
He laundered the criminal proceeds by concealing substantial amounts of cash in safety
deposit boxes at his home or transferring money abroad. The offending involved some 8½
tonnes of cannabis with a value of over £9.3million.
Having fled to Israel post-bail, Mr Benzur remained at large for five years before he was
apprehended and extradited back to the United Kingdom in 2020. In 2021, he pleaded guilty
to concealing and transferring criminal property, possessing a false passport and conspiracy
to supply a controlled drug, and was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court to nine years’
imprisonment.
In April 2022, at the request of the Crown Prosecution Service, the Attorney General applied
for a saisie judiciaire in respect of Mr Benzur’s realisable property in the Island, a bank account
and portfolio. The Viscount took possession of the assets.
In December 2022, a Confiscation Order was made against Mr Benzur at Bristol Crown Court.
The Court found that he had benefitted from his criminal conduct to the sum of £800,000 and
identified the portfolio in Jersey as an asset to be realised.
On 31 January 2025, the Attorney General successfully applied to the Royal Court for
registration of the Confiscation Order. The Viscount realised the assets, which were paid into
the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund.
On 3 July 2025, £397,000 was transferred to the Home Office pursuant to a Memorandum of
Understanding between Jersey and the United Kingdom regarding the sharing of forfeited or
confiscated assets. The remaining £397,000 shall remain in the Criminal Offences
Confiscation Fund, where it can be applied by the Minister for Treasury and Resources for
promoting measures which may assist in preventing, suppressing or otherwise dealing with
criminal conduct and its consequences.
Jersey’s Attorney General, Mark Temple KC, said; “This case yet again demonstrates Jersey’s
ongoing commitment to assisting its overseas partners to ensure that criminals are denied the
benefit of their criminal conduct.”
Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service Proceeds of Crime
Division, said: “Our international relationships and partnership working are key to ensuring
that criminals cannot benefit from their criminal activities.
“Thanks to our joint contribution Eitan Benzur has been stripped of his ill-gotten gains, which
have been shared between our jurisdictions to prevent future economic crime."
gov.je