Justice minister David van Weel plans to change the law to seize assets from suspected criminals, even if they have not been convicted of a crime.

Van Weel plans to change the burden of proof so that owners of high-value items such as luxury cars, without any obvious means to pay for them, will have to show that they have bought them legally.

“If we search a house for illegal firearms and find half a million euros in cash, it’s easier for us to confiscate it, because the burden of proof will lie with the interested party,” the VVD minister told the Telegraaf.

Last year police and prosecutors seized €409 million worth of assets from suspected criminals, but that figure is a tiny fraction of the €16 billion that the Dutch central bank DNB estimates was earned from criminal activity.

Van Weel wants to introduce a bill allowing the state to retain assets in cases that have had to be abandoned, for example because the suspect has died or the time limit for prosecutions has expired.

The procedure, known as non conviction-based confiscation, would also allow the state to seize assets whose owners cannot be traced – a common issue with investigating cybercrime – or unclaimed assets, such as suitcases full of money that are abandoned at airports.

Van Weel denied that the bill would encourage police and other authorities to adopt a “seize first, ask questions later” approach, because judges will still decide whether assets should be classed as proceeds of crime.

He said: “You can still produce receipts to show that the money was earned by legal means. In a large number of cases you’ll never see those people again.”