POLICE who raided an Accrington house looking for drugs found £40,000 in cash locked in an upstairs bedroom, a court was told.

Blackburn magistrates heard the officers also found a set of electronic scales in the house and two lists of names and numbers in Lexus and Subaru cars parked outside the house in Lister Street.

The magistrates gave police permission to detain the money while they make further inquiries to determine whether it is the proceeds of crime.

Acting Detective Sergeant Kathryn Cussans told the court the raid was carried out under the Misuse of Drugs Act and targeted the home of Matlub Akhtar.

Akhtar was not in at the time of the raid but Miss Nazia Shah told officers the money recovered from the upstairs bedroom belonged to her family.

She said £27,000 belonged to her sister, Parveen Akhtar, from the sale of a house in Blackburn, £10,000 belonged to her aunty Mirsa Begum and the rest was family savings.

DS Cussans said the cars outside the house were linked to Matlub Akhtar whose brother, Masood Akhtar, was currently serving a four-year prison sentence for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.

She said the money, scales and lists of names would be sent for forensic examination and in the meantime members of the family had been invited to explain where the money had come from.

The magistrates granted the detention order for two months after which the police will either have to apply for a further period of detention, an order of forfeiture or return the money.