A PIGEON fancier who supplied ecstasy has been stripped of £33,000 police found stashed in his bird loft during a drugs raid.

Keith Mason, 58, will not get the cash back - which detectives said was the proceeds of peddling drugs - after police secured a forfeiture order.

Now some of the money may be spent on policing in East Lancs after the order, brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Mason, of Casserley Road, Colne, appeared at Burnley Crown Court in March and pleaded guilty to supplying class A drugs.

Police raided his home in December 2005, recovering 42 ecstasy tablets and £38,380 in cash - £33,000 of which was wrapped in old shoes and hidden in his pigeon loft on waste land off nearby Russell Avenue.

Mason was charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs, supplying class A drugs and possessing criminal property - the £38,380.

He pleaded not guilty to intent to supply but admitted possessing 42 tablets, which he said were for his personal use.

Mason pleaded guilty to supplying ecstasy, which was on the basis that he gave one tablet to a visitor to his house between November 1 and December 12, 2005.

He denied possessing criminal property and that charge was allowed to lie on file. In April, Mason was sentenced to 36 weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months.

The court was told Mason, who previously suffered from bowel cancer, had bought the pills in batches of 50 for £1.50 each and took them to give him a "lift".

The full £38,380 was taken off Mason at the hearing at Reedley Magistrates Court.

Sgt John Fryer, of Colne police, said half of the money would go into Lancashire Police's coffers and the remainder to the government.

He said officers in Colne would be applying for cash to spend on crime prevention and crime fighting schemes in the next round of funding, which would be announced in the coming months.

Sgt Fryer said: "The entire amount has been forfeited and Mr Mason did not put up a defence because he could not account for where the money had come from.

"We put the case forward that the money was the result of drug dealing.

"This has taken 18 months to bring to a conclusion and we are very pleased to have got the full amount."