Police and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) are using Proceeds of Crime legislation to hit the Mr Bigs of the sex industry where it hurts them most... in the pocket.

Those in the firing line include the first man in Ulster to be convicted of controlling prostitutes for gain, who we can reveal has had a £500,000 bill slapped on him by the Assets Recovery Agency.

Sunday Life understands that the crime-busting organisation — recently absorbed into SOCA — hit heavyweight Michael Hill with a whopping £0.5m bill before its recent merger.

Limo hire boss Hill (40) now faces losing his home in a quiet Carrickfergus cul-de-sac and the gleaming white limousine that stands parked in his driveway which he used to ferry hookers around Belfast.

Hill last year pleaded guilty in Belfast Crown Court to controlling prostitutes for gain between September 2004 and June 2005.

The court was told he was partly responsible for leasing one apartment used by the hookers in Belfast and was a guarantor for another on fake ID.

Hill, who served two months of a four-month sentence when he was convicted, last night told how getting sucked into the vice trade had already cost him his pals and could now cost him his home.

"I am sorry I got caught up in it because it has brought me nothing but grief," he told Sunday Life. "I'm not prepared to reveal what I made. I have ended up with people owing me money, and I have been left with bills to be paid.

"There was money to be made in the game, if it's done right.

"The industry is booming around town still, it's the oldest profession, and will always be booming.

"People ask me about getting girls, but I have nothing to do with it any more.

"I am not a pimp, I was never a pimp. The girls came here of their own accord. I got a few quid a week, I got a wage. There were other people involved who did make money, but not what people would think... it's not like the drugs industry.

"I did not know I was risking my neck.

"Going to jail was really hard. It was only two months, but for me it was really tough.

"But I would rather be in jail than what I am going through now."

Burly minder Hill added: "All the girls were based in England... all they wanted was somewhere clean, secure and safe to work in.

"My end of the business was lifting them from the airport, dropping them off and picking them up again.

"There were occasions I was asked to sit in the kitchen to make sure no one was harming the girls. That was the end of my role.

"No-one ever touched the girls when they were with us. They were very well looked after."

Hill was one of a dozen people who were charged in relation to the shutting down of 25 brothels during a police crackdown on Ulster's vice trade.

Cops are particularly worried about the link between the vice trade and human trafficking into Ireland.

A special squad has been set up to tackle sex trafficking into Ulster and hit the Mr Bigs in the pocket.

Said a police spokesman: "The Police Service of Northern Ireland is an active participant in Pentameter 2, the coordinated multi-agency campaign of activity to gauge and tackle the trafficking of human beings for sexual exploitation and forced labour throughout the UK.

"A special team has been set up in Belfast to spearhead this operation, which is expected to last for several months. Pentameter 2 aims to rescue and protect victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and to identify, disrupt, arrest and bring to justice those involved in criminal activity.

"There is particular emphasis on understanding the nature and extent of trafficking, the involvement of organised crime groups and attacking the assets of such groups.

"Huge profits are being made by criminals involved at local, national and international levels. As such, every investigation will have an asset recovery element, using the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) to look at criminal lifestyle offences, civil recovery, forfeiture, confiscation, taxation offences, and money laundering."