A LOSTOCK drug dealer has been ordered to pay back more than £70,000 or face a stint behind bars.

Adam Gee was found to have benefitted from £90,134.93 earned from crime, Bolton Crown Court was told.

Gee must pay back £72,588 within six months or he will be jailed for 20 months.

Police said these results bring criminals' egos "crashing down to earth".

The ruling was made against Gee, aged 36, at a Proceeds of Crime hearing on March 5.

Gee was in a van stopped in Bradford Street by police on March 24, 2013 at 10.30pm.

Inside were three large bags of recently-cropped cannabis plants, with drugs worth between £7,000 and £15,000 inside.

Gee, of Pocket Nook Road, insisted he had found them dumped at the roadside, but was convicted of possession of Class B drugs, receiving a suspended sentence.

A POCA investigation found several bank accounts with substantial amounts of cash going into them in Gee's name, as well as properties.

Det Ch Insp Jackson said: "What we have shown is that we will relentlessly pursue these people and strip away the lavish assets they've accrued by dealing drugs.

"Just because they have not been given an immediate prison sentence does not mean they can escape punishment and in some senses, taking away their cars, their homes and their ill-gotten gains is an even better way of bringing these people and their egos crashing down to earth."